Dulce's phone vibrated with a message as she got off work. Her heart got pierced when she saw it was from Aspen. He had texted earlier, so polite about going over to pick up the kids, and all day she had been worried about what would have happened if he and Becker had met. But Dulce had been too shy to ask him and didn't want to piss off Becker by asking him either, so she had just spent the entire day stewing. "Hey. Not that I don't want to keep the kids with me until evening, but my parents are coming over, and I don't want them to see the kids just yet. I've not told them anything yet. I don't want to scare the little ones. Can you come to pick them up?” Heaving a sigh of relief that it hadn't been what she had been imagining, she waved goodbye to her colleagues and hurried over to his house. "Mummy!” The twins squealed when Dulce entered the mansion and found them playing with toys beside the pool. Running to hug her. On recalling their mom's words about running, they

Dulce's coffee slipped from her fingers, leaving a dump of brown liquid and ice blocks on the variety beneath her. Her hand shook, and her eyes fixed on the news playing out on the television screen. The voice of the newscasters debating her life and identity in the name of “The mysterious lover of Millionaire Playboy, Aspen McKinney, was hiding for probably more than five years" faded out as anger and pain passed interchangeably in her head. “Fiona.” She called, angrily shoving her files into a folder and pushing it into her drawers. A loud bang followed as her table rattled, successfully shutting the drawer. “I need to leave early today. Can you please help me clean up and lock the door? I'll bring in the spare key tomorrow, so don't worry about coming early enough to open the door for me.” She yanked her jacket off her chair, nearly ripping it, and stormed out of the office. Even before her assistant could reply, the sound of her heels ricocheted off the wall. "Um,” her assi

Derek sat there in awe of the words that had escaped Aspen's lips. He knew his friend to be opportunistic but he didn’t think he was this extreme. He had made his intentions clear and now, it was left to Dulce to decide whether she agreed to the terms or not. Dulce, just like Derek, was in a state of disbelief. She didn't know how she was supposed to feel. She should’ve felt offended but instead, she was flattered. Had he liked her so much that he’d do anything to have her? He was on the verge of having his name and company ruined but this was what he decided to do. She could see the logic behind it. If they were married, they could deny all rumors of indecent behavior, plus the kids they had together helped sell the story better. But was she ready to be married? Was she ready to let go of her name and all that she had built? Was Aspen worth it? She was skeptical but still, she didn’t rule out the thought of being married to him. After all, he wasn’t a bad man. He was nice a

Aspen’s threat rang in her head and just as the security men were about to throw him out, she held up a hand. “Let Mr. McKinney go. Take only Becker instead. I'm sorry it has to be this way, Beck.” The latter who was drunk refused to be taken away without a fight. He fought off the men for as long as he could, scattering furniture and papers around. “You can’t do this to me, Dulce, after everything I did for you. Do you want to pay back like this? I will never let you belong to another!” At least, the security men succeeded in pushing him out the door. Dulce could still hear him struggling and exchanging obscene words with them. It was true that she was not treating him fairly but she had to finish up things with Aspen first. She could always beg for his forgiveness later when the mess about her secret was cleared up. The other occupant of her office and father of her children stood afar off, brushing dust off his suit and putting himself together. Aspen had not meant to thre

She ran out towards the door in the opposite direction. Her eyes filled with tears and her nose with snot. The feeling inside her was a terrible one. She felt betrayed for she had trusted Becker and again her trust was broken. Her thoughts became disorganized, even more than the way they were when she was at the office. She was downstairs now and stood in the kitchen with one hand up against the fridge. She pondered if she was deserving of all that had befallen her. She never imagined this betrayal to come from Becker. If it were anyone else, she probably wouldn’t have hurt as much. She believed they had something special but now she felt dumb for thinking so. Her head faced down as tears dropped from her eyes. She took a minute and then took a deep inhale. “It was okay,” she tried to tell herself. All would be right with the world soon enough. These were the thoughts that filled her head as she tried to play off the pain she was in. She tried to smile and even laugh b