Abandoned as a child, Andrea’s life was a script of hardship. Her mother, once an aspiring actress, left her poor father for a wealthy man, erasing them from her glamorous new life. Raised by a loving stepmother, Andrea harbors a burning desire to conquer the acting world and surpass her mother’s success. Now her world is shattered: her stepmother's cancer is in its third stage, her acting career crumbles due to a false accusation, and her boyfriend's betrayal leaves her heartbroken. A drunken night leads to an unexpected encounter with Niklas, a wealthy but arrogant heir. Desperate to save her family from financial ruin, Andrea reluctantly agrees to a marriage of convenience. However, this marriage intended as a lifeline, becomes a battlefield as Niklas's lover returns, threatening to destroy Andrea's already fragile existence. When a heartbreaking miscarriage leaves her reeling, she must confront a crucial decision: will she remain in the shadow of others, or break free from her gilded cage to reclaim her dreams and identity?
View MoreAndrea's eyes darted across the walls of her sterile room, the stark white of the walls a harsh contrast to the chaos she felt within her.
Dante had gone, while she was still asleep, she remembered hearing her aunt's sharp voice in the afternoon , insisting he left as a man was not permitted to be the best friend of a married woman. She had scoffed at her archaic notion but had been too weak to open her eyes nor argue. As her eyes continued to wander helplessly across the room, Andrea couldn’t help but ponder how she might have wronged the universe to be born into such a cruel fate. Lost in her thoughts, she was startled by the sound of the door opening. A young woman walked in, almost Andrea's age, if not older, but with a smaller frame. "The doctor said that you lost your baby" the girl said to her. Her voice bearing no emotions or pity for what she might be feeling. They had achieved their aims afterall. " If I'm to give you an advice, I'll say you divorce Niklas" she continued. " Did your mother send you to tell that to me?" Andrea asked her, voicing her words out as loud as she could despite the pains that racked her body as she lay on the bed. "No, why would she. I am just telling you as a caring in-law" she continued but Andrea was no longer interested in what she had to say, her eyes darted to the door, hoping to signal her unwelcomed guest to leave, but the girl seemed bent on delivering her message. " Look" she said and played a video recording, holding out her phone towards her so she could see it as well. " While you were at the bathroom struggling, your husband was shopping for baby clothes with Serah!! Doesn't that tell you anything? I heard you called him asking telling him to come to your aid when you fell at the bathroom, but he didn't come. But then, he was at King's Store buying baby items with his ex lover. If I were you, I'd ask for a divorce and leave the marriage" she finished and ended the video she had held out to her to see. " If I can recall, I called you countlessly as well but you answers none of the calls and did not return any. I think you should stop looking for whom to fool with your fake concerns and focus more on finding yourself a husband, like your mother wants you to" she shot back at the lady, visibly annoyed by her fake displays of concern. " What?" She muttered, surprised at the sudden tone and choice of words she had spoken to her with. She had always been quiet and never complained before in the past no matter what had been said nor done to her, but now he seemed almost like a different person. Her phone began to ring and this distracted her attention, making her leave the room to answer the call. Andrea seized the moment, stood up from the bed she was and went to the door, locking it as the lady left to answer the call. Her insides rumbled with hate for her. Struggling, she walked back to the bed and picked up her buzzing phone. Dante had sent a message to her. Opening it and seeing the funny stickers he had sent to cheer her up, she couldn't bring herself to laugh at any of them. He was trying his best to cheer her up, even up to the point of sending her the newest designs of his new collections, telling her to pick any for herself, free of charge. But she was not in the mood to reply nor speak with any body. Going off, her eyes locked with her screen saver. It was the ultrasound picture of her unborn child. The unborn child she had just lost. Tears began to well up in her eyes. If only. Why her. What did she do. Only Dante's missed call was on her notification bar. He wasn't the first person she had called, it had been her husband Niklas. She had fallen down at the bathroom when she went to take her bath in the morning. It wasn't a serious fall but then she had felt dizzy and tired and couldn't pick herself up, even when she noticed that she had began to bleed. Taking her phone, she had called her husband countless times but he didn't answer any of them. When he eventually did, she begged him to come to her aid. She was at the bathroom and had fallen buy couldn't get up because she felt sharp pains from inside her, but he dismissed her telling her that he was busy and that she should call the father of her unborn child. He was the father but because he always believed whatever he wanted to, he kept on with his notion that he was not the father. She had called out for help from the nannies as well but it seemed as if all of them were miraculously super busy outside the house that day. Stranded and left with no other option than calling Dante whom she had not wanted to bother with her burden, he had come rushing into her room from his house almost immediately he went off the call. But her husband's aunt had refused her being taken away from the house. She had been in all along without helping while she screamed for help. She was already unconscious when the family doctor had come and gone. But now according to what she had been told by the girl who left her room a while ago, it appeared her so called husband had not been busy all along like he had claimed but had been shopping for baby items with his ex lover who had returned to him not too long ago with a pregnancy she claimed was his. Her insides burned. How could he. She continued to lament and cry for as long as she could. The door got forcefully opened by a man who walked in, with a bunch of keys jingling as he walked in. He looked at her angrily and without turning, she could already tell whom it was. "Here, take this" she heard him say and she turned to face him, still lying on the bed. He dropped a piece of paper with a pen on the bed beside her. "I heard that you lost the baby. There's nothing holding us now. We can finally go out separate ways" he said and touched the baby he had dropped again, shifting it closer to where her hand was. " Sign the divorce papers when you stand up. I'll pay you whatever amount you wish for after that" he said and that was all, he turned , meaning to leave. But she knew why he had brought the divorce papers and she wasn't going to give him that. His ex had returned and if the pregnancy she carried was his, she signing the divorce paper meant giving him the chance to live happily ever after with the woman he had always loved. She wouldn't be stupid enough to do that and especially not with all the humiliations and mockery she had endured at his hands thinking he would change one day. She had lost their baby and there wasn't any other thing that could bind them, but she would not will him the freedom he wanted desperately at that moment. "No Niklas, I will sign no divorce papers" she said and he abruptly halted in his steps and turned back. " Did you say something?" He asked her because the tone she had used was not what he was used to. He knew her as a simple girl who could be made to do anything, especially if she would get paid by doing so but her change of tone had come as a surprise. "We will remain married" she answered back and he found himself arching his eyebrows at her. "Only your mother has the right to dissolve our marriage" she finished and looked him in the eyes, caring not about the cold stares he shot at her. His eyes narrowed as he tried to gauge the sudden change in Andrea. She had always been the compliant one, the one who never questioned him. But now, something had shifted. The realization dawned on him that he might have underestimated her. But she was ready for whatever would come, she won't be the girl they all knew in the past. If only she had been herself months ago after the wedding, no if only she had been her true self on the morning after the night of their stand........The events of the other night replayed in Niklas' head like a movie being repeated.No, be hadn't planned to attend the ball, that was why he had sent the man whom he was told was her ex instead.He had no intentions of attending and he had no intentions of making Andrea's attend it either.The man had been paid to come to the function and play the recording and act like the mastermind behind it.He was to hack into the events computer system and was to do this through that way and when he'd get investigated, he would admit he did it because he was hurt that he had bee abandoned.Mr Lee had called him countlessly but he was not in the mood to answer any of his calls, but when his call came for the twentieth time, be was unable to ignore it and had to answer, which was how he got to know about how the man he had employed to carry out a very simple task had gone ahead to change the details of the script he had asked him to play by.It wasn't just a humiliation on Andrea's side, it was a
There was something hidden in the glare Mrs Eduardo had shot Niklas with. It wasn't just a normal glare and neither was it meaningless as well.It had to mean something, something mostly about her being disappointed in him and something he had done, what he had done what she was still trying to comprehend.She greeted her and turned to leave for her room. Holding the pains she felt from the heel in her feet still in.She wanted to pull the shoes off but thought against it. It was just a few minutes left before it would be over and she'd be in her room.Mrs Eduardo smiled at her as she informed her that she would going upstairs and Andrea plastered a fake smile on her face as well, even though her heart was bleeding with numerous questions she wanted to ask her.Maybe she left at the heat of the moment. Maybe she had gone after John had began badmouthing her. She wouldn't want to be present to witness her beloved daughter in-law being embarrassed that way in public because surely, the
The glass of water Dante held fell to his feet and broke."Is she going to allow him fool her this way? There's also something sinister with the glances he's exchanging with the man who did that, why is he beginning to act all saintly" he screamed at no one in particular as he watched clips of what happened at the EMC ball on his television.He hadn't want to concern himself with anything concerning EMC Conglomerates. It was none of his business. They did shady dealings for their business and he didn't want to get caught or get mixed up in it through one thing nor the other.But seeing the first headline on his phone about Andrea, the manipulative wife of the the CEO of EMC Conglomerates, he couldn't let his hate for EMC stop him from knowing what the news was about, and especially because it pertained to the woman he had a crush on. Seeing how things had unfolded and how he had begun in his revelation of what he had seen as the epic unmasking of the century, Dante could tell that i
She couldn't take her eyes off him.He sat on the next step in front of the entrance while she sat on the first.She had finished drying the wetness ok her body caused by the wine she got poured with a handkerchief he had given to her.It was seemingly the first time he was being this nice to her. And with the way he had defended her, she couldn't keep the recurring thoughts of it out of her mind. "Thank you" she managed to mutter as she stood up from where she was and handed him his handkerchief which he had lent her. He took it from her, but avoided his eyes from meeting hers.There was something with them earlier when she had given him thar close up look from her teary eyes.They called onto him for protection and warmth, and he had to train himself to ignore them."The driver will be here soon with the car, we just have to wait for a few minutes more" " How about mother?" Her voice came again, breaking as she called her name out. She had wondered where she was as well. She had
As the sounds of his intermittent claps echoed in the hall, Niklas felt a mixture of emotions churning within him. His heart ached seeing Andrea standing there, drenched in humiliation, her teary eyes scanning the room for any sign of refuge. This wasn’t what he wanted, not really. Yes, he had orchestrated this scandal to divert attention from his own public disgrace, but seeing her like this, so broken and lost, made him feel an overwhelming sense of regret.The sight of Andrea standing there, holding her cheek where she had been slapped, was more than he could bear. He had never intended for it to go this far. The plan was supposed to be a mere distraction, a temporary measure to shift the public’s gaze away from his own failings.He had enlisted John's help because he had felt like he would be the best person to crush her ego without her suspecting his involvement, but seeing how he took it personal and as an avenue to bully her, as well as the lady that had come with him, he cou
"I'll be your mother Andrea. Your papa told me what happened with your mom. I promise I won't be like her.i stay by your side, along side your brother" she said and turned to make way for her son to come forward and greet her.Andrea only managed to move her head and looked in his direction, before she looked away from them.He was young. Her father had married a single mother, like himself.But it was so soon, he didn't even give her the chance to mourn her mother who had abandoned her. Who had left her regardless of how much tears she shed as she begged her not to leave her with the car that came to pick her that rainy night.But her mom did not pay need, she didn't look back. She didn't even tell the driver to pause the car even for a minute so she'd get back and hug her daughter who was crying in the rain for her.Instead, she threw a few wads of currency notes at her, the notes which were destroyed in the rain that night.It hadn't passed a month she left and her father was takin
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