"I... I was just lost in thought," I stammer, avoiding eye contact with him. He pulls me closer, his lips grazing my ear, "Dirty thoughts, Emily? I like that." I push him away from me. Trying to ignore the heat rising to my cheeks. We step into the luxurious penthouse and the atmosphere changes. It's both familiar and foreign at the same time. "Where is your father?" I ask, trying to change the subject and how flushed I am. At what point did I even start having such thoughts? "He went out for air but he will be back soon," he replies, leading me to the spacious living room with a breathtaking view of the city. As we sit down, he gestures for me to start talking. I take a deep breath, trying to push aside the distracting thoughts and emotions. I should hate this man. But it seems his mission is succeeding from the way that my heart is beating so fast. Maybe it’s gratitude that my heart has mistaken for feelings? "We have a problem, your father's actions are putting my career at

Emily “I think you've already crossed the line!” Nina looks at me as she sips her wine and I groan in frustration. “I don’t know what came over me!” “Well, you bit your husband while he kissed you and later, he cornered you about the kids?” She repeats after me as if trying to make sense out of it but is falling to. The kids are asleep and it’s been two days since my encounter with Liam. I don’t know how he found out my kids were his especially looking at how big New York is. “I’m losing my mind here Nina. I agreed to move in with him and now I told him I’d think about it if I’d allow him to meet them!” “So you practically admitted they’re his kids?” She eyes me and I groan even more at how ridiculous everything sounds especially when you say it out loud. I nod my head and she shakes her head dramatically, “I wonder what else he can make you do once he fucks you if he can bend you like this with just a kiss!” “That’s not all,” I add and she dramatically holds her chest. I put

Emily My heart races as the nurse informs me that my kids are waiting for me at the hospital's reception. Thoughts swirl in my mind, wondering how they found out where I work. Hastily, I make my way down. My breath increases with each step I take as different scenarios hit my mind and what could have possibly happened for them to come here. When I reach the reception area, relief washes over me as I see Kayden and Hayden, their faces lighting up as they spot me. "Mummy over here!" they exclaim in unison, rushing into my arms. I kneel down to their height, a mix of emotions coursing through me. "What are you two doing here? How did you find me?" I ask, trying to keep my tone gentle when I’m actually about to lose my mind. Hayden looks at Kayden, they exchange looks before shrugging casually as though it’s the easiest thing to do. “Remember we placed a GPS on your phone? School finished early so we took a cab here to surprise you.” As much as I’m highly impressed, I’m very upset a

Emily The next day…… A call from the hospital director came unexpectedly, we’ve not met eye to eye since he visited my office, and knowing how these systems work, Dr. Rodriguez probably shared our last unpleasant conversation and now I don’t know what they have in mind. “Good morning my angels can I talk to you about something important?” I ask and they exchange looks before turning back to me. “Yes, Mummy. What is it?” Kayden asks as he takes a sit pulling his brother to sit next to him. “Well, I wanted to hear what you guys think about us moving in with Liam.” I begin. Knowing the load of questions that is about to hit me will be difficult to ignore. I have been avoiding addressing this for a month now and even though they kept calling him “Daddy,” I never acknowledged it but now I feel like I should clear their minds. I’m still deciding and trying to see where I can place Liam’s confession but right now, I’m scared. I don’t think I can handle being broken like I was ever

Emily Setting up at the institute while observing other patients is going to prove an impossibility and today is only the first day. So I sent an email to the director to only allocate special cases for me to handle so that I can focus on reviving the research institute which is in a much worse situation than I thought. We are trying to outsource and see ways to replace strong medications with something environmentally friendly which will also help one’s life span but to do this, we need to test various options and that requires a lot of money. “Good morning Dr.Harper. My name is Lily Jacobs. Your medical assistant.” I turn and find a very beautiful gray-eyed blonde beauty staring back at me with a smile on her face. “Hello, Lily. It's a pleasure. Please take a seat and fill me in. What have you been working on so far and what are the challenges?” I smile and she nods as she takes a seat. She sighs heavily before speaking up, “Well, what version do you want? I don’t want you to