OLIVER I stared at the blonde woman speaking, hearing her speak, but was not really listening to her. She was the tenth woman I interviewed today, and yet none of them seemed to interest me. They had jumped at the offer for even $1 million, so why the hell did Miss Knight refuse $3 million? It was a week now since she walked away from me and never looked back, and I had been convincing myself that she would come to her senses and call me to accept the offer. But as the days went by, it looked like that would never happen. I had even promised her friend a double promotion if she could convince her, but to no avail. What manner of woman was she? Was she ready to let her daughter be at risk than spend two years with me? Was that how much she resented me? Why? “So, Mr. Montero, what do you think?” My gaze refocused on the woman in front of me. I did not comprehend even one thing from what she said. I sighed and sat straight. “I think I will have to cal

ELLEN Sophie's birthday was coming up in two days and she was so excited about it. It has been two weeks since we moved into Oliver’s mansion and since I was married to him. We hardly saw each other, except at work. He did not have time for Sophie and me and was always staying away in his room or the living room, staring at his laptop or tablet. We just lived in the house like familiar strangers, and I loved it like that. I was learning new things about him, and I before two years, I must have gathered enough information about him. Alejandro and Jerry were surprisingly friendlier than I thought. They adored Sophie and were around more often than I had seen them before. It was Saturday and we were not going to work. It was a perfect time to tell Oliver about Sophie’s birthday and ask if we could use his garden. Sophie has never celebrated her birthday, but she requested that she wanted this one celebrated and I wanted to celebrate her fifth birthday too. I d

ELLEN Sophie’s birthday arrived, and I did not ask to stay at Oliver’s place anymore because I was still mad at him for what he did. Lily offered us her apartment, and it was better for us because we were free. Sophie invited her friends from her ballet class they will dance at her birthday party. There was a total of fifteen people inside the room. About seven kids and the rest were adults. Everyone was excited as Lily, and I brought out the drinks and canapes. We all wore cones on our heads. Sophie was dressed in a pink ballet gown while I wore a black gown that hugged all my curves as suggested by Lily. I did not allow her to make me up because I did not want to look overdressed. Dante, Alejandro, and Jerry had promised to come, but they were not there yet. I did not tell Oliver about the birthday because I guess he would not come, so there was no need to invite him. Besides, I was still mad at him for calling Sophie a brat and for his errant behavior the other day

OLIVER “Bullshit! That is bullshit! You thought me to always stick to the fucking plan. I do not want you here...” A burst of soft giggles made my words trail, and I walked out to my balcony. My eyes locked on the little girl Sophie laughing heartily while Miss Knight tickled her on the lounge by the pool. Her laughter resonated with genuine happiness, and I found myself staring and forgetting the anger caused by my father early this morning. I watched them with enthusiasm, forgetting about my father still on the line. Their laughter rose with the morning sun as they played around the pool. I wondered why they were so happy this morning and I pictured them as Sara and my unborn child. If only Sara was alive, our baby would have been as adorable as Miss Knight’s child. Her birthday night, she caught me off guard and I never imagined I would play and laugh that much. There was this burst of happiness kids transfer, but it would have been better if it was my kid.

ELLEN I followed Oliver and Dante up, holding Sophie in my hands and asking her to keep mute and walk on tiptoes. Sophie obliged and played along. I carried Oliver’s mug of coffee with me just in case he caught me eavesdropping on them. When Oliver pushed the door to close, I did not let it close well. I stuck my leg between it. I listened to everything they said about me and was careless enough to let the spoon from the coffee mug fall off. I quickly dragged Sophie away from the door and put my finger between my lips. She nodded and handed her the mug. “When he comes, tell him he forgot his coffee. I was never here, alright?” Sophie nodded like the good girl she was, and I ran off and went into the Kitchen before Oliver came out. A few seconds later, he was in the kitchen asking me about it. I snapped to cover up my nervousness, also because he kept bringing Sophie into this. I did not like it at all. We had our own fit that morning and got a little too perso