My eyes went to the bench where Sofia and Amber were sitting but I found the bench empty.
Where are my girls? They were there the last time I looked.
Panicking, I looked around the room, hoping to see them playing somewhere but there was no sign of them.
With my heart pounding lightly and the fear of them getting kidnapped, I ran out searching for them.
Where could they have gone?
I got busy for a while and I could check up on them and now they are gone.
I was still searching for them when I got a call from an unknown number, with fear of it being a kidnapper, I answered the call with shaky hands.
“Miss Armani, your children are at the Wong mansion. Come here to get them.” And with that, the line goes dead.
The Wong mansion? Isn't that where the president, Mr Wong stays?
Why does he have my children?
With my purse in hand, I run out of the building, flagging down a taxi and showing him the address to take me to.
When I got there I had paid and I ran out, running into his house.
“Mommy!" Both my children squeal, running to me and I open my arms hugging them.
“My babies. Why did you leave? I was so worried about you. You scared me." I hugged them tightly, taking in their smell.
“Daddy took us with him," Amber says and I pause.
Did she just say, Daddy? Is he letting them call him Daddy?
My blood boiled but I controlled myself.
“No, sweetie he's not your daddy," I tell them calmly hoping they would understand.
I see Mr Wong walking towards us and I stand up, my temper flaring.
“Mr Wong. Although this might seem like a joke to you I do not appreciate you lying to my children because it would only hurt them.” I tell him, trying to keep my voice level.
How could he? If this is some sort of game that the rich play he should keep my children out of it.
How do I convince them now that he's not their father?
“But it's not a joke." He says and I pause.
What?
"What do you mean by that? Mr Wong this isn't funny. I may not know a lot of things. But what I do know is.." I start but he cuts me off throwing my world into chaos.
"Do you not know who the father of your child is? Or are you just good at playing dumb? “ He asks sarcastically with his brows raised.
"Give it to her." He tells the man standing next to him and I'm given what seemed to be an envelope.
What's this?
With shaky hands, I open it, looking at the content of the paper, my face whitens in shock and fear.
“No.. this is not true…” The paper slips from my hand falling to the floor.
He simply can't be their father. How can he be the man I slept with three years ago?
"Take the children upstairs." He orders and the woman who has been standing by the same carried them off.
“Three years ago, I was drugged and taken advantage of by someone and you whom I haven't met before somehow gave birth to children that are mine. It fits in, doesn't it? I could sue you and have you in jail for as long as I want.” He says, and from the look on his face, I know that he is being serious.
"I was drugged too, I didn't… " I start to explain, my eyes going up to where my children were just led to.
“This could just be a lie you're telling to get away freely. But even if it is true, who would believe you? Who would people believe between me and a girl no one has ever heard about?” He asks and I grit my teeth knowing he is right.
If I had known that this would happen after I came back to America I would have stayed back in Italy.
“What do you want?" I force out through gritted teeth because I know they always want something.
After hearing my question his lips formed into a smile and he knows he has me cornered.
“I want you to get married to me." He says and my mind blanks.
Is he crazy? He wants me to get married to him? I would never do that.
“What? Did I ask too plainly? You want me to get on my knees and whip out a giant diamond ring from my back pocket?” He asks me, sarcasm dripping from his words.
" I won't get married to you,” I say and I hope he knows that I meant it.
How can he just ask me to get married to him?
“Oh, you think you have a choice here? If you say no I would fight for the rights of my children and make sure that you don't ever see them again. You would lose custody of both the girls. It's a threat.” His face was stoic, devoid of any emotions as he threatened to take my children away from me. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place
"It's for two years. After two years had elapsed, we would get a divorce and of course, you would be paid handsomely for your time and services. Just make sure you don't cheat on me in these two years, don't do anything that would embarrass my name, and make sure you don't get any unwanted feelings for me cause once any of these happens the contract is as good as gone and so are your children. Do we have a deal?”
He's asking me if I would be able to refuse this.
I glared hard at him, making it clear that I hated him at that moment.
Gritting my teeth, I force two words out.
“We do."
Hearing my words, Mr Wong gives me a cold smile, a smile I'm beginning to hate so much." Glad we have agreed. You'd be coming with me to meet my family soon. Do not make mention of this contract to them. Or anyone for that matter. To the whole world, we met on Jeju Island sometime three years ago, and we hit off and had sex. You left without giving me your contact info and we didn't see each other for three years. Till I ran into you a couple of months ago here in LA and we started seeing each other again then got married cause we can't live without the other. That's easy to understand, isn't it?” He asked like he was daring me to say I didn't.But how was I supposed to understand all that when he was speaking so fast?He's looking for reasons to not like me, that much is obvious.How do I explain to my parents that I came here single and now I'm suddenly married to a freaking billionaire?“If you would please speak slowly, then it would be appreciated,” I say, faking a smile. And i
Maria stared at me in disbelief while I stared at Mr Wong.Why would he tell her that I'm his wife?“Mommy." Amber tugged on my clothes and I turned my attention to her, looking down at her.“Yes, baby?” I ask her, ignoring Mr Wong’s piercing gaze.“Daddy got Fifi a husband." She tells me and I can see the excitement in her eyes as she says this.Fifi is her plush toy.But I feel like she's not excited about the toy but more excited that she has someone to call daddy and do things with.Smiling at her, I rub her cheek affectionately, not sure of what to say.“What are you still doing here? Want to see if J can fire you?" Mr Wong barks and I turn my attention to Maria who has been standing there, watching us with shock.After she left, I turned to him with my arms crossed on my chest.“Why did you call me your wife?” I ask and he looks at me and then smirked.“Is that why your face is red right now? Because I called you that? Do you remember Clause Three of the contract?” He questions
“Look how pretty she is. Oh, Richard, you should keep this one.” She says with her arms still around me and I turn to Richard for help, he looks at my arms that are still lying limply by my sides and gives me a cold glare.Instantly, I take my arms around her and hug her back. This seems to make her pleased because she hums.“What about my grandchildren? Where are they?" She asks after breaking our hug, going into the car to look inside.“Well?" She looks at me, and then her eyes move to Richard, waiting for our answers.She seemed so excited to meet them and for some reason, I felt happy. At least I know they would get accepted into this family and wouldn't get bullied by anyone.“They stayed with the nanny. I wanted Gabby to meet you without the children so she wouldn't feel overwhelmed by everything. You'd meet them soon" Richard says, holding my waist and I wondered if that was truly the reason he didn't bring them or if he was just telling his mom that just because.“Don't worry,
Everyone at the table stared at us in confusion, looking between us two.If Mark had acted like he didn't know me then everything would have been better.Even Richard seemed surprised that we knew each other.“You two know each other?" Christy asked surprised, asking the question everyone wanted to ask."No.” I forced out at the same time he answered with a “Yes."I look at him, glaring at him furiously. If he thinks that everything would be okay between us, he is just dreaming.“Gabby, I've been looking all over for you. You changed your number and you moved out of your place, you left without saying anything and you didn't give me a chance to explain what had happened." Mark starts and my grip on the spoon tightens more.I feared that I would break the spoon with how tight my grip on it was."Mind the way you talk to my wife," Richard says, placing his hand over mine on the table to release my grip on the spoon.Mark's eyes go to our hands, and a frown forms on his face.“Wife?" He
I open my eyes when I feel myself being lifted, holding onto Richard's jacket.“What are you doing?" I asked groggily.He was walking toward his mansion with me in his arms, I was expecting him to wake me up when we got to his place.“You are sleepy, sleep." He orders, still not keeping me down.“What about the kids? I need to check on them to know if they are alright. What if they need me?” I ask him, hoping that would be enough reason for him to let me down. But he doesn't."I can walk,” I say, staring up at him. It was dark already, but the lights were on around the house.“You have to go to work tomorrow. Sleep. You'd need the energy to make up for all you missed today.” He says and I groaned causing him to chuckle.I forgot about that. He pushed open a room door and carried me to the bed, gently placing me on it.“Thank you for today." He says then walks away, not giving me the chance to say anything else.What was he thanking me for? It's part of the contract for me to act as hi
What exactly does he mean by that, and how do I look by the way? Well, I just hope he isn’t making a mockery of me but I am starving, and nothing he says now can cause me to change my mind from taking from this delicious meal right in front of me.Whatever that means, I think it would be nice if he spoke to me like I’m human and not some AI he has working for him in his company.“How do you me?” I asked, curious to find out what he meant by that, I think I need some clarity on what is happening.Yes, I was dead hungry and couldn’t wait to devour that delicious meal I saw staring back at me, taking from the food on the table and walking away just like he never said such demeaning words to me wouldn’t cost me a thing.Whatever the case may be I’m sure I deserve some respect, and it would be nice if he accorded me that and not speak to me like some piece of trash. But no I insisted I wanted to know his reasons for what he said, so I proceeded by asking him once more cause he acted like
-Mark’s POV-Well Gabriella I didn’t come here so we could start beating ng around the bush, I came here for a reason which is to try another chance with you.Don’t get me wrong Okay? I know you're married to my uncle, yes, but I think we are kinda meant for each other considering his age difference. And I will never have peace knowing that you are in the arms of an older man.Look Gabriella I waited for you I thought you would come back for me, I gave up a lot of job offers just so I could remain in town and not change location, cause something was telling me you would come back for me.But I guess I was wrong anyway, 'cause you chose to go for someone who weighs older than you are, and from what I figured out you're not happy in this union, cause the whole thing looks strange to me.There’s no chemistry anywhere between you guys, You tend to force communication but that’s by the way and I don’t want to say exactly, what my mind is telling me. So I’m going to ask you Gabriella and p
What insolence, and I think I had better keep a distance from this young man cause I can’t imagine This back and forth He would have been the ideal man for me but he chose my best friend instead, It keeps bothering me though, what exactly did she do that Got Mark attracted to her?I was ready to make our relationship work, and I gave it my all, I tried to be the best I could but he chose to cheat on me with my own best friend, I think whatever attracted him to Veronica should be good enough to make him consider getting married to her.Wow, it looks like I’m going to get home late today, I suddenly said to myself when I checked my time, I quickly got the rest of my work done cause I was wondering what would happen to my kids If I didn’t get to pick them up in time.Cause from the look of things Richard looked like he was having a busy scheduled day, and I doubted if he was going to make it to their school today, I quickly got the things I needed to go home with and hurriedly left the