That explained everything then—the distance, how he dodged her eyes when they met with his, the brown orbs filled with guilt, and how he never stayed home to spend time with her and Matteo.Alexa was back, and seeing her, she passed her a disgusted look that had Elena swallowing her hurt back and suddenly wanting to dash out of the gathering.Nikolai finished talking, and he came down from the podium. She waited for him to sit beside her, but he never came. She turned to see him walk past Alexa outside the hall.Elena had seen enough; she brushed a tear from her face. Her mama never taught her to cry for any man, but she couldn't stop hurting so badly, maybe because she had sacrificed so much for this man to throw her away like thrash.And he was then choosing a woman who didn't think of him as anything.It seemed her prayers were answered because the party had ended, and raising her long blue gown with a long sleeve up, she walked over to where Nikolai was now, hoping she'd see him o

ELENA'S POV.Dangit!I was late...Again.I held the steering wheel hard with my fingers, gazing out through my window, wheezing past trucks that screamed curses at me while I whispered apologies.Lateness was what happened when Mia got sick, and I had to stay with her till she was stable a little, for Alessandro never offered to keep her while I worked, and the only nanny Mia was calm with had traveled to see her parents.I couldn't ask Alessandro; I looked at the ring on my finger and my black eyes in the rearview mirror. Sighing, I pulled out my foundation and dabbed more around my eyes.That had to do with the concealing, but I couldn't help but wonder for how long I was going to keep on concealing what he did to me, watching his hand slam hard against my face as if I was an animal.I swallowed; I needed him. There was no how I could do without him, for he gave me the job I had now, and it was because of him I got promoted as fast as I did.And besides that, I was going to do anyth

"Mama! That's my mama!" Matteo shrieked again, and Elena struck right on the stage and felt as if the whole light on the runway was turned on her, her eyes wavering.That was Matteo, alright, standing and clapping while everyone else smiled at the cute little boy who had a locket on his neck. To make matters worse, he was making his way to her.Conscious of herself, she swept her blonde hair back; how did he find her? How did he even recognize her? He was so tiny when she left; he was almost three when she left, for goodness' sake.Fighting the wave of emotions about knocking her off her feet, as she watched Matteo's head, he ignored the stairs and climbed straight to the podium, struggling to hold onto it.A sob rose to her throat, deep happiness seeing her baby again, and fear, for if he was here, it meant Nikolai was behind him, somewhere, around.She saw him now, Noah, coming forward to help the little boy climb on the stage where she was, all those time maintaining eye contact wit

"The conversation went too far." Noah said, watching his boss stare at the telephone in front of him, his fingers on the keyboard of the MacBook, "It almost sounded like a threat, sir."A page popped up on the laptop, and picking up a pen, Nico wrote a number on paper, arranging his glasses before peering at what he wrote.The comfort he experienced upon returning home and discovering that Matteo was already asleep; after checking on the boy, he went to his office, carelessly shrugged off his jacket, sat down in front of his laptop, and researched every bit of information he could about her.His ex-wife wanted nothing to do with him, but unfortunately for her, he was ready to go to the extreme for her to return; he couldn't handle any more of Matteo's whining, especially now that he had seen Elena."In a way, sir, she's right," Noah tried again. The look in the president's eyes made him afraid, and he hoped what he was about to do didn't blow up in their faces. "Coming and leaving Mat

AUTHOR'S POV."what is going on?" Char muttered, watching Nikolai glare hard at Mason, whose confusion intensified the more, looking from Elena to the president whose eyes on him seemed to burn him down.Elena could swear she never saw his eyes get this fiery before; it made her stop squirming, looking at the side of his face wondering where all of this was coming from.From the side of her eyes, Elena saw the paper in Joey's hands drop, watching as the President suddenly stood before Elena, unbuttoning her dripping jacket and throwing it at the door.Elena faced the door in time to see Noah catch the jacket and then tip his head toward her direction, muttering respectfully. "You don't look too well, First Lady."She was about to pinch herself, so she woke up from this damn nightmare rendering her speechless.Mason laughed nervously, "Your Excellency, I'm sure you're mistaken," he pointed to her, "This here was a worker in this company; Elen Santos can not be First Lady,"Nikolai's re