Worry weighs Alexandra down like an anvil when she heard her father's voice on the line. "Alessa, I would like you to arrive at the Salvatore mansion for lunch this Sunday. You can invite your husband, too."His gentle tone was ludicrous to her ears. This is the same fashion he used to persuade her to do his bidding. "I am cutting ties with you, father," Alexandra answered coldly. "Don't be ridiculous, child. I admit I've been an arsehole like you called me. I hope you forgive me." An unintended laugh fell out of her mouth. It was satisfying to hear him admitting himself as an asshole. Alexandra reclined in her chair and swerved to view the high and mighty skyscrapers behind her. "I can't forgive you. Not yet," she said, examining her neatly trimmed red nails. "I know you were the one who tried to kill my husband."She didn't know who exactly shot Jonathan that day, but she suspected it was Kyle. He has a thing for snipers and he was also a well-trained assassin. "I never did suc
"I told you to never speak of this!" Aunt Margaretta whisper-shouted at Jannet.Jannet made an aloof expression. Refused to submit it to Aunt Margaretta's accusations. "So what? She deserved to know the truth!"Aunt Margaretta wanted to tear her hair out. Alexandra should never have known the truth! She had promised to keep this under the wraps and take this secret to her grave! "You've ruined everything! EVERYTHING!" The door swung open. Alexandra brushed past Aunt Margaretta and stomped down the hallway. "Young miss!" Aunt Margaretta called, following Alexandra. "Please listen to me!" Alexandra turned around, and Aunt Margaretta was torn apart. Alexandra was red with fury, as the color of danger and, worse, betrayal. "I've had enough of your lies!" ***Something cold and heavy dropped to Alexandra's stomach as she headed upstairs to the computer room to log into the surveillance system of the mansion. She opened it and looked for the CCTV footage of the day when her grandfather
Catherine came breezing into the living room, holding a tray. Benjamin Winchester sat straight, pushing at his cane. "Did you make tea for me again?"She almost dropped her smile before bracing it. "Yes. I made it myself, Pa." Benjamin nodded weakly. He was being forgetful of things these days. Margaretta suspected he was having early signs of Alzheimer's. But he couldn't care to get it treated.He had been also getting very sick lately, with head-splitting beaches and drowsiness. He wanted to get sick enough to get his little Alex to come running back to make him better again. No Alzheimer's could wipe his beloved granddaughter off his memory. Catherine placed the tea on the table. "Why do you have a hard time believing I made tea for you?" Her voice had a bitter edge to it."Because you never fancied entering the kitchen." Benjamin Winchester coughed violently. "And here you are making tea for me every day.""Aren't you grateful?" Catherine tittered. "Very grateful. But my healt
Benjamin fell into a fit of turbulent coughs, blood, and vomit ruptured out of his mouth. Catherine hooked her hands under his sweaty armpits and pulled him to the loveseat before he could collide against the harsh marble floor. She recollected a faded picture-like memory of her father picking her up in his powerful, brawny arms, effortlessly when she was a small girl. She gloated about having the strongest man on earth as her father. Now she reduced him to a sickly skeleton.“Margaretta!” she called in anguish. The consequences of her outrageous sin, a gong banging on her conscience, reverberating and producing tremors that shook her to the vital core.Margaretta stepped in, cupping her round, fatty face in the horror of what lay before her eyes. Benjamin gasped for air, his thin, furrowed skin paled into a ghostly white. “Don’t just stand there! Tell the chauffeur to get the car ready, we have to take him to the hospital and get me something clean this off!” Catherine screamed, claw
'Go to sleep.'Alexandra's palm quivered as if she was an epileptic. Minor tremors bolted in her nerves as she brought the pills closer to her mouth, almost tasting the bitter taste of the chalk-white pills. Aunt Margaretta slapped the door, again and again, trying to get her to open the door. Begging for forgiveness. Begging her to not kill herself. The more noises Alexandra heard, the more she wanted to shut it. That's right. End everything. 'End it.''End everything.''Be free.'The faint yet haunting whispers in her head demanded, like small ants crawling on naked skin. What she wished for right at this moment was for the noises to stop. To relish the silence. A familiar buzzing noise caught her attention. Alexandra's head pivoted towards the sound, like a startled animal. It was her phone, screaming for attention on the table beside her bed where she had put it to charge up. The picture they had taken at the amusement park popped up on the screen. They were smiling, a giant,
YEARS AGO...It was a dreary monsoon morning when Catherine was woken up by the loud wails of her newborn. She slipped her long, naked legs out of the blanket and the cold gust gripped them with its icy fingers. Margaretta was taking a nap in the next room as she tended the baby for almost half the night. It was as though Margaretta couldn't get enough of the joy of getting to pamper an adorable baby. Hesitantly, Catherine picked up the baby. She had never been so careful not to drop something in her life. This precious little life in her hands should be handled with the uttermost care. That was all she knew from the moment she laid eyes on the beautiful infant. "Shh... go to sleep, little Alex," she whispered sweetly, placing the baby against her bosom. "Or are you hungry? Is that it?" She asked softly. That must have been the reason since the only two reasons babies cried so ferociously were when they were hungry or wanted their diapers changed. She knew little about babies or
Gabriel would not leave her alone and was determined to send her letters every other day and not to mention the series of phone calls he made to her house. Catherine was fed up with this and sent him a warning that if he continued with this madness, then she would file a restraining order against him. Thankfully, Benjamin didn't want her to marry him, either. He thought Gabriel was too young to be married to her, as he was only a year older than Catherine. He wouldn't prove to be a better suitor for her, no matter how much he bragged about it. Each day, the bond Catherine had with baby Alex grew even stronger. She was always busy coddling and pampering her baby with dresses she had made herself. Even when she was working at home, she had the baby on her lap, never letting her out of sight. "Say Mamma." Catherine cooed. The baby gave a toothless grin and wiggled her hands. "Come on, Alex. Say Mamma." She tried again."M-m-mama." Catherine's heart filled with immense delight that s
For days, Catherine refused to talk to Benjamin. She shut herself inside her room and her depression had gotten worse. There was a suicidal thought haunting her day and night, and the hollowness in her chest kept getting bigger and inevitable to ignore. Eventually, she stopped spending time with her baby, too. Other than to breastfeed, she wanted nothing else to do with the baby and let Margaretta do the mothering work for her. Catherine began having nightmares about the night she was violated and like arsenic, it was making her sick. So sick that she felt hostile toward her child. Scared that if she warmed up to the baby again, then Alessandro would reappear in her life.Gabriel stopped his persistence in wanting to marry her and she, for once, dreaded he was over her. To test this, she invited him for tea to ask if he still wished to marry her. "Yes! Cathie, yes!" Gabriel said, thrilled. He was wearing a ridiculous-looking shirt with tropical patterns and black bell bottoms. His