Those words were enough to have Leonica racing out of the company without second thoughts. Leonardo was confused, but during the drive, she had taken the initiative to explain the call to him.“Well, did they say what the bad news was about?” He questioned as they got closer to the hospital. Currently, they were stuck in a traffic that looked like it hadn’t moved for the past two hours, but in reality, they had only been there for five minutes.“No. And I never said it was bad news. They never said it was bad news, just an emergency.” She tapped her finger on the steering wheel as she corrected and waited for the traffic to free. At some point, she contemplated jumping out from her car and just jogging the remaining mile or two to the hospital.She could make it; after all, what was a little stress for Ashley’s safety.Was the emergency even about Ashley? F*ck, she should have asked questions before hanging up the call and skidding to the lift. She cursed in her mind.“Hey, calm down.
“Ms. Romero appears to be unfit for artificial insemination. Through the series of test conducted on the IVF physicals, we were able to conclude that this situation was caused as a result of complications and high level of stress during her first pregnancy.” Doctor Bailey continued on, explaining to the three people present, all he and his team had learnt.As he spoke, the sterile walls of the doctor's office seemed to close in on Gabriel as he absorbed the weight of the revelation. The news of Leonica's inability to conceive through IVF, a consequence of the stress during her first pregnancy, hit him like a ton of bricks and soon the feeling guilt bubble up in the pit of his stomach.The guilt he felt was as a result of the nagging thought in his mind that if he had been there with Leonica during her first pregnancy, had he not thrown her out, divorced her all because of his pride and misunderstandings, then maybe, no, not maybe, he knew for a fact that the situation would have been
“So Leonica, what do you say?” Gabriel asked with clear hints of expectancy in his voice.The air in the room thickened with tension as Leonardo, ever the voice of reason that Leonica was forever grateful to have beside her, spoke up before her heart could offer a response to the ridiculous proposition Gabriel had offered."Whether she agrees to that proposal of yours, it’s a fact, stated by the doctor himself that getting another baby from the original parents can't guarantee a hundred percent successful match," he pointed out, his gaze steady. He dismissed Gabriel’s stare when the older male turned once again to look at him. Instead, he focused on his younger sister who looked like she was clearly contemplating Gabriel’s proposal.Could he blame her, Gabriel was a sweet talker; even he had almost mistaken the devil for a knight in shining armor a minute ago. So what was the guarantee that his sister, Leonica, the woman who had fallen in love with him once, and was clearly still in l
“Remind me why again you want to go to the beach on a Christmas?” Melvin Romero asked as he watched his sister wrap her winter scarf around her neck and pack her hair into a pony tail, before she turned to face him.“Because it’s Christmas, stupid.” Came her response as she bent down and threw on her shoes.He scoffed at her answer. Funny how she was calling him the stupid one when she was the one who woke up around six am and began announcing that she was going to the beach. Obviously their parent’s had thought something was wrong with her sudden determination to go to the beach, on a Christmas. They had tried stopping her, but Leonica was set and after an hour or two of back and forth banter, they gave in, granting her the permission she needed to leave, but with one catch. He as her older brother had to come along.Protection, they called it, since she had also refused to allow any of the guards tag along.“Beaches are for summer, not Christmas, stupid.” He muttered and huffed, ben
Leonica's office buzzed with the hum of fluorescent lights, a stark contrast to the unease settling in her stomach after seeing Owen’s troubled expression."What's going on, Owen?" she inquired, her eyes narrowing with concern. “Talk to me, what’s wrong?” She asked again after he had remained silent for far too long, too long for Leonica’s liking.Taking a deep breath, Owen began, "After Ashley’s birthday party, I had my doubts on the present Angelina gave him, so I had a chat with my friend, the designer of that very same figurine. He testified to a few of the figurines going missing and thought that was all, but I didn’t. From what I saw, Angelina wasn’t the friendliest of person towards you; her acting may have deceived a few people, but not me. So it didn’t make sense for a woman who clearly doesn’t have good intentions towards you to go out of her way, purchase a stolen figurine, all because she wanted to give YOUR kid a present." He paused and stared pointedly at Leonica waiting
Earlier in the day, while the sun still bathed the city in warm hues, Angelina paced the space of her room, chewing on the tip of her nails as she concocted a sinister plan.It had taken a few days, but soon she had Recognized that Leonica must have kept the figurine away from Ashley because till this day, she was yet to hear news concerning Ashley’s life being in danger.In shorter sentences, her plan had failed and she was possibly screwed.“F*ck!” She cursed loudly, kicking her coffee table with her leg. The poor furniture suffered the wrath of her anger and toppled over, transparent gl*ss on the top shattering into small piece the moment it hit the floor, creating a loud bang.In seconds her maids had rushed in, worried for her safety. “Ms. Fernandez, is everything okay?” Her head maid asked as her eyes trailed from the broken coffee table on the floor to her messy wardrobe, broken vanity mirror and toppled over makeup chair.Without another word, she knew exactly what was happeni
“I’m going to send you a location and I want either you or that wh*re mother of his, to meet me there. Alone. If either of you tries to play smart and bring anyone else along, your son will suffer the consequences. Oh, and Gabriel, whatever your choice is going to be, I suggest you hurry up, after all, I’m not the most patient person. You should know this, right?” Angelina said and the last thing Gabriel heard before the line went dead was the sound of her laughter, which he once considered beautiful, sounding like that of the devil's.With the room once again falling into silence, Gabriel was left with his thoughts. They slowly began to spiral, picking up from where it had been left off minutes ago, cursing and blaming himself for the current situation.At some point, he felt like laughing at his very on stupidity. Leonica had seen through the witch's true color, heck, even a whole Megan, someone who wasn't as involved in him and Leonica's life as Anastasia, had seen through her faca
Leonica eyes remained glued to the burning house, frozen shut in place, even after Owen tucked Ashley in the back seat and came back for her, leading her towards the p*ssenger seat and whispering to her that everything was going to be alright and for now, he’d drive she and Ashley some for safety. The moment his hands released her to pull open the door, the spell had broken and the world around her began to make sense again.Owen was about to open the door, intending to lead her in when Leonica’s hand caught his. He turned to look at her with a confused gaze.“What are you doing?” He asked."He's still in there." Came her reply. "He's in there. I'm sure of it." She repeated sternly and broke out of his hold."Leo... Leonica, where are you going." Owen said and chased after her, standing in her path to block her.At times like this, Leonica cursed the fact that the younger boy had somehow grown taller than her."Get out of my way." She demanded."You're not thinking rationally." Owen c