Chapter 0006

•OCTAVIA•

“I won’t let you take my child from me and raise them with a woman who can kill them if she wants,” Laura sneered as she looked at me and I wondered if she knew I didn’t even care about her or her bastard kids.

“They are mine, Giselle, and I deserve to be in their lives as their father. If you don’t want that, I’ll leave with Octavia, and they won’t get help.”

“You wanted them dead before, so what would stop you now from killing them?” She turned her back and walked away as I folded my arms across my chest and scoffed.

“She’s bluffing, right? How on earth does she expect us to worship at her feet when she needs us to save the twins? She kept them from us for five years and now returns expecting things to go her way?” I rolled my eyes. “Let’s go home, Noah, and see what she will do.”

“Those are my kids in there, Octavia. I can’t just leave. Here,” he handed me the keys to our home. “Jack will take you home, and I’ll see you later before dinner.”

“What? No!” I retorted. “You can’t stay behind with her.”

“I’ll be home in one hour, Octavia. You trust me, don’t you?”

I fumed when I realized the whole situation might not work for me. For five years, I had been trying to conceive, yet Laura conceived and returned with twins.

I felt like I would lose everything I had worked so hard to achieve over the last few years. Noah and I had everything in our marriage except for children.

“I’ll call you in an hour if you’re not home.”

“Yeah, that’s okay.” He kissed my cheek and walked away. He walked inside the twins’ ward and shut the door.

***

“Laura is back, Mom. She’s back with twins, and Noah is with them at the hospital.” I informed my mother on the phone when she called me.

“You left Noah with Laura?” She gasped. “How could you do that? Do you want them to fix things and bond together behind your back?”

“What did you want me to do, Mother? Noah told me he would be home in an hour, and I had to believe him. I can’t make him think I am insecure about his relationship with Laura.”

“Laura is a manipulative bastard. Call Noah and tell him to come home immediately. He can’t be in the same room as her. We will lose everything, Octavia. We’ve come a long way to watch all our efforts go to waste.”

“That won’t work, Mom. I must find something to make Laura disappear from this place. She was away for five years and returned with a new identity. Noah told me Laura invested one billion dollars in his company,” I rolled my eyes as I sat on the bed. “She couldn’t have made so much money if she weren’t a fraud who changed her name to Giselle Sullivan.”

“You’re right,” my mother scoffed. “You must find something dirty on her and use it against her. She’s using her kids to distract you and Noah so she could get her claws around him. She’s as cunning as her dead mother. Thank God that bitch is dead.”

“I’ll call you later, Mom. I want to find someone to dig up information about her. Giselle or whoever she is won’t see what’s coming for her.”

“That’s my girl.”

I hung up the call and texted Raymond. He knew someone who knew someone who might help me, and he had never disappointed me in the last five years when I wanted Laura gone from California.

When I was done and had given Raymond the task, he promised to hit me up with someone in the morning who would get me everything I needed in two or three days.

I looked at the time and realized Noah had been in the hospital for two hours and said nothing to me about coming home.

I paced in our bedroom as I called him, thinking of what he was doing with Laura in the hospital. I scoffed when I imagined them bonding with their kids.

“Hey.”

‘Hey?’ He had never said that to me in the five years we’ve been together when I called him. He always referred to me as his love or sweetheart.

‘Am I losing him?’

“It’s been two hours, Noah. When are you coming home?”

“I’m with the twins. Laura left to get some rest. You’ll have to sleep without me tonight, Octavia. I want to use these hours with them as much as I can. You know I haven’t been in their lives for five years, and I want Giselle to see my dedication to being their father.”

“This is bullshit, Noah,” I retorted. “This is Laura’s plan to separate us. How do you know she didn’t manipulate the DNA tests to say you’re the father? She wants you back.”

“The kids are sick, and that’s all you care about?” He scoffed. “Stop making everything about you.”

“How am I making everything about me when you’re clearly eating out of Laura’s palm?” I scowled. “She’s manipulating you, Noah!”

“We are not having this conversation. I’ll be home in the morning.” He hung up the call, and when I tried to call him again, his cell phone took me straight to voicemail.

“Fuck!” I snapped, throwing the cell phone on the bed.

***

“Have you found something?” I asked Dean on the phone while hiding in the bathroom, peeking every minute to see if Noah was approaching.

“Yeah, I’ll send you everything through your email. The password will be your name. I hope you haven’t forgotten to pay me.”

“Don’t worry, Dean. My husband is Noah Blackwood, so I’ll double the amount you charged me.” I ended the call and then emailed a journalist, using a hidden email address.

“Octavia?” Noah called from the bedroom, and I turned off my phone and walked out of the bathroom.

“Hey, baby. You’re back!” I wrapped my arms around him, hoping it would be the last time he would spend the night in the hospital with Giselle and her twins.

“I’m sorry I didn’t come back last night. The twins—”

“Shhh.” I silenced him as I placed my finger across his mouth. “You’re home now, and I don’t want us to talk about Laura and her children. I missed you.” I cupped his face and tried to kiss him, but he leaned back and sighed.

“I didn’t sleep all night, babe. I need to hit the shower and sleep.” He kissed my cheek, walked past me, and went to the bathroom.