Lorenzo's POV
When the car drove into the familiar estate, I dragged in a deep breath because eventually, I had to do this, and it was better that I got it over with.“ Lorenzo” Helena scurried out, her heels clacking as she raced down to me, hooking her arms around mine as we counted the steps down to the huge sitting room, where I knew my father was going to be at. “ I thought you weren't coming, you made father mad you know, although the interview went well, he is ranting about how you should give him a grandchild pretty soon”“ What about you?” I threw my head at you. “What happened to getting his favorite and only daughter to get him one?”I knew the answer to that already, Drago would do everything to keep Helena by his side. He loved her because she was a replica of our mother and since the moment our mother died, he made sure he spoiled her to the tilt, giving her whatever it was she wanted. Only the best for my angel, he would say.While I went through rigorous training to become the heir of the group and the mafia world, all she had to do was sit pretty and be there for the old man.“Lorenzo”“ Drago” I never addressed him as father because that was what I had grown up with.The silence was nerve-racking and all that I wanted to do was yank this tie off as I listened to Drago, ramble on about how he was going to take the company from me.Twirling the champagne glass that I had taken from the tray in my hands and watching keenly as it's content danced around the glass , I shrugged. “Then do it” I dared him, satisfied at how fast the reaction on his face had come up, at how he looked vexed.I rolled my eyes, fatigued already.“What did you say?” He grabbed the seat tightly, clenching it so tight while trying to remain calm as I ruffled his nerves. Something I was enjoying.“ What do you want me to do? Plead for you to hand the company to me, oh, come off it” I waved him off.“ You brought me up this way, Drago, to be ruthless, cruel and…” I ticked my tongue as Helena kept holding the sleeve of my shirt, pleading with me not to say a word more.“ Heartless. You know so well that Jaden will ruin the company, he isn't half as good as I am.”My eyes clashed with his as he stared hard at me, running his tongue over his lips. My eyes deepened when he wrapped a hand around the little wrench sitting beside him.Gobbling down the champagne, which tasted awful down my throat. I stood up, not wanting to say one more word. The stomping of a staff on the soft carpeted floor rang through the air when I tried to take a step away.“ Lorenzo, come back here! I am not done talking to you!”My feet halted on their accord. My eyes dimmed when I flipped my head around, and the wrench was smiling so wide that I couldn't do anything. Tightening my fist into a ball. I stared hard at my father.“ The next time you want to talk to me, do so without any of your little things by your side. At least respect my mother's image, would you?” I rolled my eyes before stalking off, my heart twisted with so much anger that I thought it was going to burst.“ Let's go” I gestured at Jack who slid into the car, the image of Helena staring at me as the car drove off greeted me until we were out of the estate.“Have you gotten any feedback yet? From Daphne?”I threw a gaze out of the window, staring out. “Nothing boss, nothing at all. Her friend is nowhere to be found also, every trace of them has disappeared, and no single person has a clue where they could do”“ They disappeared? How exactly is that possible?” They were two little girls, so they couldn't have gone that far.“ Did they have help? From anyone?” I didn't know how exactly I was going to place it, but she had left an impression on me the last time.I saw her everywhere, and it was suffocating to me. I had never wanted to possess someone as I wanted to do to her. I wanted to own her, her body, her soul, her smile and etch it inside me. I wanted her to moan just my name like she did the last time, as she dug her fingers into my arms.Loosening the necktie which was beginning to suffocate me, I threw it to the side, not paying attention to it. She clouded my mind. Much more than she was supposed to.“ No boss” this was aggravating already.“ Is there no way that you can get across to them?”“ No boss”“ Take me to her apartment.”“ Boss”My eyes dimmed as I stared hard at him. “Take me to Daphne's apartment, you aren't doing a good job, Jack. This is one of the numerous times that you have failed me, and it should be the last. When I want something or someone, you get whatever or whoever it is for me. Okay?”He hummed, nodding his head, before he eased his way into a neighborhood which was nothing like I had grown up. It looked so cold, and whenever anyone saw the motor drive by, they stopped to take a good look.“ Why exactly were they staying here? Two little girls, isn't this place out of tune for them?”Thinking about everything that might have happened here, all I wanted to do was make sure that she was better. Daphne. I flicked the lighter I was holding, not lifting it to the edge of the cigarettes.“ It wouldn't make sense to smoke here boss, we don't know which gang rules over this district, and although I could barely tell, I know they are not under us”Dipping the cigarette back into the pocket of my suit, I stepped out of the car, giving the neighborhood a quick glance before walking behind Jack, who stopped in track at a house.“ This is it” he pushed the door slightly and I blinked.“ Are you sure they weren't kidnapped or harmed?” The house was in disarray, things were flung all over the sitting room, and it showed signs of no life in it.I took steps in until my eyes swept through every inch of the house and my eyes stopped just before the bed, and they flared up in anger when I saw something small lying on the bed.My brows contorted the same time my brows dipped, and something churned in my stomach as the words I had said to her came rushing back in. “Her friend Irene, was she single?”“Yes, she has been for years and…”My hands closed around the test strips. “Was there no record of her having a fling or a sex partner? Any at all?"Jack shook his head and the bitter taste spread out through my mouth.“Then this ought to have been hers. Daphne."Daphne's POV“Oh, please stop it” Irene waved her hands at me as she shoved the necessary items I was going to need into a bag. “There is no way Lorenzo would know you are the one. It has been three years already, and besides, whoever you are going to work for is entirely different from him”. I let out a whiff of air, hoping that it was going to be just fine. In three years, I had done so well for myself. From starting a little business which I had never expected to blossom to sitting over a lot more which ran into millions. With lips pouted, I threw a salted gaze over my head at Irene. “Don't tell me that you are thinking of dropping this job?” Her eyes dimmed at me. I could tell that she was thinking of various ways to send me out right away if I was. Force me there, if it had to get to that. “Nope, I am not. I am not going to miss it for anything in the world” It was one of the biggest events that I was going to host in years and if I let this spiral out of my hands, I was going
Daphne's POV My guts twisted as I chugged yet another glass of wine, not caring an ooze if it would end up being an alcoholic one. Hopefully, it will be a non-alcoholic one. With eyes fixated on the raised platform, I watched the man who had sworn a while ago that he was going to get me back, act all chummy and sweet with his fiancée and my eyes rolled inwardly out of disgust. What exactly did he think of me? Someone who he could talk to and was going to consent at once? Lorenzo had been adamant, had pinned me to the wall, while his hands ran by my side as he pledged his unending love to me and I wondered if indeed he was the same person standing there. Our eyes met, and a bump formed before I threw my gaze to the side even when I knew that his had never left mine. The heated gaze gave it away. Scorching endlessly on my back. “Hi” someone uttered as they stood beside me. I twirled around, my eyes meeting a bulky man. “ Here” he gently placed a card on my palm. “ You must be the
Lorenzo's POV The door was shoved open, revealing a plain faced Jack. He always had that look on his face. I could attest to the fact that he had a dozen thoughts flipping through his mind, but he had gotten so good with it. Putting over a plain face like it was nothing. “So what is the update?” I looked up from the iPad I had been scrabbling on, waiting for a response. “Done boss” my eyes went to the paper he had shoved at me. “Like you said, she was making plans to run away with Irene and the kids” My hands stiffened around the papers. My kids. They were ours. Kids I didn't want but now, I knew they were going to be one of my weaknesses if not the greatest. “ Any pictures?” He nodded before sliding it over and I blinked. A girl and a boy. The girl was my replica. I didn't need DNA to tell me whether she was my kid or not, but the boy looked just like her, although I could see that he was going to take all of my inert attitude. His eyes contained so much darkness than I could f
Daphne's POV Tears pricked my eyes as I tried to fathom when last anyone made me feel this way. Being relegated to the edge had always been a thing for me, and I was already getting used to it until this. Trisha huffed, her chest squared as they rose slowly, eyes drilled daggers at me. I scurried to Lorenzo's broad back, which gave me enough coverage from her deceitful eyes. “You didn't mean that, right?” Trisha’s fist clenched into a ball as she demanded an answer from Lorenzo. “I have never been so serious about anything else before. Trisha” his voice lacked empathy. My heart swelled at the thought that I was different to him, but all the thought came crashing when I thought about this. I wasn't any different from Trisha. To him, I was just a possession he wanted to have. Who knew when he would get tired of me and trash me away? “ I will leave now” I weaved through the tense atmosphere, stalking out, not minding the ugly gaze that trailed me. Letting out a breath of air, I fe
Daphne's POV My palm got sweaty as I beamed excitedly, yet another massive deal that I had never expected. When Mrs. Smith had placed a call through, I had thought it was all a joke until I stepped in here and found her seated right now, her face emitting just enough glow to draw in anyone to her. “Oh yes, Mrs. Smith” I gave her a gentle smile as I listened to her chat on about how exactly she wanted her party to look while scrabbling on the iPad I clenched onto. Running a swift glance once more with her making the necessary corrections, I gave her a gentle smile before accepting her outstretched hand. “I will have my secretary wire the money over immediately I am out of here, I can't wait to watch you do your magic” her words dipped into me as I watched her walk away. Throwing a punch in the air, I let out a yes, trying so hard to keep my balance as she drove away. She was everything I needed to get into the upper echelon. Once I handled her party, I would get more. It wasn'
Daphne's POV “What are you going to do?” Irene threw the question at me as though I had a choice. I was left with just one, which was to go back to them.“ Do you think he would have gotten to know where exactly they were without the kids saying a word… I know…” it was almost impossible that they had, they had no idea who exactly their father was. Guilt laced at me as the possibility that I was going to leave her behind filled every part of my being. My eyes swelled with tiny tendrils of tears as I interlocked my hands with Irene's.“ I don't want to leave you behind. I don't want to”.A life without her was going to be a dazed one, one that wouldn't have any meaning. She had been by my side for years, and that wasn't going to change. Not now. She tried to flicker off the tears in her eyes, but it seemed she wasn't doing enough. “ Gosh, I didn't want to tear up, but I just can't help it. Daphne…” her eyes lingered up at the white ceiling for quite some time. Every little fiber in
Daphne's POV His words, they weren't supposed to settle in me the way they had, they weren't supposed to ruffle the feathers I felt the way they had just done, but I just couldn't help it. With misty eyes, I decided to take a glance at him and when he mustered the words. “ I love you” all of my charade shattered into tiny pieces. “ Okay” Irene gulped in “ Also, you can come along and live with them. I wouldn't be living with them for some time so you should come alongside them” My eyes flickered with warmth, he knew exactly what he was supposed to do, and he was doing just that. He wasn't mincing his words and he was letting me know the length he was ready to go just because of me. Just because he wanted me with him. “ I can't really say” “ Please” I squeezed her hands. “ Come alongside and stay with us” Irene stood, contemplating for a while before she nodded“ Great. Our kids are waiting at home, you can go back and pack whatever belongings you want, although I can assure you
Daphne's POV They don't want somebody with questionable character? Where exactly did that come from? I was far from that. When the news drenched me, I dropped to the ground, my eyes flicking shut as I tried to make it make sense. Just in any tiny way that maybe I could think of. “Please hand it over, I need to talk to her” I stretched out my hands, pleading with everything in me. If she could pick it up, then I would be able to make her have a change of heart. “Daphne…” Irene whispered at me, her voice breaking as she did. “Take a chill pill” A volcano erupted inside me at her words. “Don't tell me to take a chill pill!” The words were out before I could take them back. Alexis and Avery stood stunned, in doubt, and were about to say something when someone placed a hand against their ears, taking them away.I was grateful for that, for that little moment, it meant a lot to me.“ You know how excited we were when she contacted us, you know how I felt, you know how…” I dragged in a