Lahat ng Kabanata ng Four Babies and a Billion Dollar Lie: Kabanata 21 - Kabanata 30

More dealsAyisha hummed some random tune, deliberately loud, as she paced the living room. She was trying to distract herself, but the truth was that she too felt the sting of Mariam’s betrayal. Still, unlike Tessa, she carried it with humor, with mockery, with laughter that cut through grief.Tessa flinched. Her heart leapt. She dropped the spoon she had been holding in the kitchen, her eyes suddenly wide and desperate.“Lady Bianca?” she whispered.For a moment, Tessa froze, her hand gripping the door frame. Then, slowly, she let the hope drain out of her body.“Good morning,” Lady Bianca said smoothly, her voice as sharp as glass.Ayisha pushed past Tessa, arms folded, chin lifted. “What do you want?”Lady Bianca stepped into the room as though she owned the very ground. The scent of her expensive perfume filled the apartment, too rich for the tiny space, suffocating.She turned her gaze toward Tessa, then to Ayisha, then back again. “I came to make an offer,” she said.Tessa’s li

A new beginningThe compound was silent except for the faint rustle of the wind moving through the trees when the driver rolled the truck to a stop before the towering wrought iron gates. A white mansion, glistening in the afternoon sunlight, rose in the distance. It looked unreal, like a postcard painting of paradise—clean white walls, massive windows, and palm trees neatly lined across a paved driveway.Tessa sat stiff in the passenger seat, her eyes red and swollen from crying. Her body trembled faintly as she stared at the luxurious house, yet her heart was heavy as a rock. Beside her, Ayisha was practically buzzing with excitement, drumming her fingers on the dashboard as the gates slowly swung open.“Welcome home,” Ayisha whispered, smiling, though she glanced at Tessa with concern.Tessa blinked. Home. That word tasted bitter. How could she call this mansion a home when her children were not inside it? When the only warmth she craved was still locked away in another woman’s ar

The good lifeSix months later.The world around them had changed, but none more than the two women themselves.Tessa stood in front of the massive gold framed mirror inside their living room, almost not recognizing the woman staring back at her. The bruised, battered mother who once lived like a slave seemed like a ghost of another lifetime.What she saw now was someone sculpted into near perfection. Her once pale, underfed face now glowed with a rich caramel radiance, her cheekbones sat high and proud, her full lips painted in a nude gloss that caught the light each time she breathed. Her hair, sleek and wavy, framed her face in soft layers, and the faint shimmer of highlight across her collarbones made her look like she had been poured out of gold.She blinked, and for a split second, she thought of Rihanna—the goddess like glamour, the effortless class but even Rihanna, in all her glory, would have looked ordinary standing next to her. That was what Ayisha always told her: “You’re

The unexpected guestThe morning sun streamed through the wide windows of the new house, filling the spacious living room with a golden glow. Boxes of makeup kits, ring lights, cameras, and stacks of fashion clothes were spread out on the floor. The white walls still had that new paint freshness, and the air smelled faintly of vanilla scented candles Ayisha had lit earlier.Ayisha moved around briskly, her phone clutched in one hand while she arranged the camera tripod with the other. “Tessa, angle the second ring light a bit to the left. I want us glowing, not washed out,” she said with her usual enthusiasm.Tessa, dressed in a silk robe, adjusted the ring light silently. Her hands trembled slightly, not from fear of the lights but from the storm in her chest. Even after all the months of transformation, after the surgeries, the fame, and the constant encouragement from Ayisha, there was still a hollow space in her heart. The space belonged to her children.Ayisha noticed the absent

Where is he going to?The mansion had grown quiet. After a long evening of play in the garden, giggles, and bedtime stories, the quadruplets had finally surrendered to sleep. Chloe lingered in their nursery, smoothing Beauty’s hair and tucking Jamal’s blanket tighter around him. The room smelled of lavender oil from the diffuser, a scent she herself had chosen to calm restless nights.For a moment, as she looked at the sleeping children, her chest swelled with a bittersweet warmth. They weren’t hers, not by blood, but over the last seven years, she had folded herself into their lives. She had bandaged scraped knees, listened to their secrets, and sung them to sleep on stormy nights. She wanted to believe it made her more than just a caretaker. She wanted to believe, desperately, that one day they’d call her “Mom.”She leaned down, kissing Pretty’s forehead lightly. “Sleep well, angel,” she whispered.Then she turned, smoothing her gown and stepping softly out of the nursery. The hall