LANA'S POVThe following morning, Dax was with me in the kitchen, making breakfast. I was wearing his oversized t-shirt while making pancakes. His hands were wrapped around my waist from the back, and his head rested on my shoulder as I tossed the pancakes on the pan. "Dax, what if your brother or father walks in on us?" I giggled. "Let them. We are married." He buried his neck inside my neck and made me giggle even more. "You are despicable!" I turned around and wrapped my arms around his neck. A smile formed on his face when he looked into my eyes. "You're so beautiful." He complimented me. I froze for a moment, looked at him, and smiled. "Thank you." It felt as if we were caught in the moment before we realized that we had company. Xavier cleared his throat when he entered inside the kitchen and walked to the fridge. I felt a knot in my stomach. I turned to the semi-burned pancakes and shifted the pan from the stove in little frustration. "I hope I didn't disturb anything, b
LANA'S POVNothing could have prepared me for the moment when I walked in on Sasha and Dax. She looked at me with menace in her eyes, and her arms were folded across her chest. And Dax looked a bit relieved when he saw me. I internally sighed and closed the front door behind me and took a step closer to them. I knew that seeing Sasha in the house meant nothing but trouble. She hated me and was going to look for drama where there wasn't. I expected her to react irrationally after realizing that I took Dax from her. "What is she doing here?" I folded my arms and looked at Dax. He quickly came to my side and gave me a kiss on the cheek. "She has refused to leave; I don't know why." He then stood behind me. "Sasha, what are you doing here?" I had to take this with her as woman-to-woman, and it felt amazingly great to know that he was completely done with her. "Why don't you ask that husband of yours?" She scoffed. "Well, if you got nothing to say, Missy, how about you leave this hous
LANA'S POVThat night, Dax didn't even want to spend a night breathing the same air as me. He wouldn't even spare a second to look at me. He had to go out and sleep in one of the guest bedrooms. I felt so bad the entire night. Sleep didn't come easily in hopes that he would sneak back into the bedroom and cuddle next to me. But alas, morning came.My phone rang beside my bedside. "Hello, Mrs. McCain?" I said when I picked up my phone, realizing that it was my drawing mentor. "Ah yes, morning to you too, Lana. I hope I didn't wake you up?" She sounded as polite as always."No, you did not." I sat up straight and tried not to yawn too loudly."I have an offer for you. One of the buyers liked the drawing you did about a village girl in a city, you remember that?" My eyes popped wide open. This meant everything to me, considering that I was a new artist and was hardly able to get any buyers for any of my earlier drawings, except for a few. So, every time I got a call about a client int
JULY 2022DAX'S POVI knew that Lana and my brother were once lovers. I knew the day I decided to sign the contract with her since I already had people dig up her past and everyone she had been with. I knew that signing the contract with her would not only make things awkward between my brother and I, but I knew that I also wanted her. The thought of them being in the same room together somehow seemed to hurt my feelings more than I thought it would. Even when I realized that what I had done might end up badly someday, my curiosity to be with her for my brother to see felt satisfying. And when I finally had her, I wanted her to myself. I wanted to keep her to myself and never think that she could be with anyone else, but me. She was exactly right for me. She felt made for ONLY me. And I wanted her to profess that only I was allowed to enter her and make love to her. But when she called my brother's name when we were about to make love, it felt like a punch in the gut. I wanted that
LANA'S POVMy head felt heavy as I opened my eyes slowly to a white ceiling and white walls, and then a beeping machine by my side. I knew exactly where I was. The place was quite familiar, and I could feel the drip middle that was connected inside my inner elbow. I groaned in distress. Dax and this unknown doctor rushed to my side. And then Xavier on my other side. I sighed, disappointed that I wasn't dreaming. It was true that they saw the video tape together. In my mind, I was convinced that Dax was going to cancel my marriage contract with him. "You're awake." Dax beamed by my side. "You gave us a scare." Xavier jumped in. I looked between them and just wished that I hadn't woken up yet. I saw my shame in their eyes. Xavier didn't seem bothered to see me after seeing the video tape we had. He seemed very relieved and happy to see me. I mean, that was expected of him. If this was going to destroy Dax and I, he was going to be over the moon. "How do you feel, dear?" The doctor
LANA'S POV"There's a sex tape of you?"I looked at them in horror, my eyes filling up with tears. "Show us the video, Lana." Dax roared, his eyes burning with anger. They stood up and looked at me expecting me to show them the video. "The video is- is of me and..." I looked at Xavier, "Xavier."They looked at each other. They looked confused at first, and then their countenance changed to anger. I still did not understand why they were acting so strange. They were both mad instead of Dax being the one to burst about the video and curse at me and Xavier. I expected him to even storm out of the room after telling me on my face that the contract deal was off."When was the video taken?" Xavier asked. I swallowed hard. "2 years ago, before you left college." "Tell me you know the sick fuck who sent you that video?" Dax snapped. "Is it leaked?" Xavier asked, going through his cell phone."I think Sasha sent it to me." I confessed, taking out my cell phone to show the video to them.T
LANA'S POVAs we entered inside the house, Dax let go of my hand before I awkwardly let go of Xavier's. My heart was pounding hard against my chest because I knew that something was going on. I didn’t want to think what I was thinking without hearing everything from them first. But something was wrong somewhere. Dax allowed Xavier to hold my other hand while he held the other, that was very strange. Dax's relaxion about his brother's behaviour made me nervous, and I had to ask. "What's going on? You both came to get me from the clinic, and now you were both holding my hands. Is there something that I should know?"They turned around and looked at me. And then at each other. It was as if they were communicating something between them that they didn't want me to know. Xavier took a step forward and cleared his throat. "Take a seat, we will explain everything to you." He answered. I furrowed my eyes in confusion. "You're scaring me. What's this about?" I got even more anxious.I did n
LANA'S POV19 YEARS AGO..."Amalah, come down already!" My mother's voice called from the living room. I was still in front of the mirror, fixing my hair. "Coming, mom!" I answered, trying as much as I could to be quick enough. My mother made my hair, but I wanted it to be perfect. I was 5 years old. I loved to see flower decorations in my hair whenever we went out. It reminded me of my grandmother before she passed on. She used to tie her hair up with flower ribbons when she was little. My mother had an album of her pictures when she was my age.Her face was not vividly clear in my mind, but I missed her so much. She was the only person closest to my heart like my mother was. She made me laugh all day. She knew my favourite dish and always made sure that I was fed and full. My father was driving that day when we were going to town. They usually took me with them when they wanted me to get dresses for myself and toys. As usual, I was sitting in the backseat, holding my teddy bear cl