~Aiden~

Breanna's face fell.

“What do you mean she ran away?” she asked, swinging her leg.

The cardigan she wore slipped off one shoulder and fell down her arm, revealing her collarbone and a hint of her skin. I smiled.

“Aiden this is serious. Stop smiling” she scolded.

I blinked.

“I can't... you're just so beautiful” I muttered.

She cocked her head.

“Aiden stop. This is serious” she sighed exasperatedly.

I pursed my lips and shrugged.

“I don't know where she is, Breanna. I don't know.”

“You don't know?” she countered.

I shook my head.

“Have you...”

I nodded, causing her to stop short.

“Since the day Jewel died. I promised her I'd find our child” I met Breanna's eyes, “It's been ten years already.”

She inhaled audibly and lowered her eyes, wrapping her arms around herself.

“Your child would have been around Roman's age.”

Her voice quivered and my heart skipped.

No, no, no, no.

I took slow steps towards her.

“Breanna...”

“Aiden I'm so sorry” she let out, lifting her head, her eyes welled up with tears.

She'd stopped swinging her legs. She had stopped moving entirely. Her eyes were focused on me. They roamed my face, widened with grief, making me want to do something but take this as slowly as I was.

I hadn't come here in the hopes of doing anything except seeing her and talking to her. But now that she was here, so close, and so sad, how could I not?

“Why would she do that to you?” she asked, almost in a whisper. “I can't imagine what you must go through every day not knowing what your child looks like or what they sound like or what they're allergic to.”

“Breanna, stop it,” I said.

She sniffed and I couldn't stop myself from looking at her lips.

“Are you okay?” she asked, making me raise my eyes from her lips to her face.

“I don't know” I shrugged, involuntarily taking another step toward her. “I want to find her. I want to find my child but it's been ten years and not once has any information about her turned up. It's like the earth had swallowed them up whole.”

“How's that even possible?” she asked shaking her head.

“I'm not exactly sure” I fingered the edge of her cardigan, “But I haven't lost hope... not yet.”

She raised her hand and ran a finger along my jaw, making my breath hitch. I leaned in closer to her and her hand dropped from my jaw to my shirt.

“You shouldn't” she muttered.

“I'm sorry I made you cry” I whispered, running my fingers up her arm.

“Aiden... Aiden,” she said, softly, hurriedly, breathlessly, clutching my shirt in her delicate hands.

Her body was pulling me closer and her mind was pushing me away. I couldn't tear my eyes off her teary face, her tantalizing lips. She was breathing heavily.

“I don't want to hinder you from anything Aiden,” she said, her eyes focused on my lips.

It was so close to hers, as she bit down on her lower lip. I smirked, chuckling darkly.

“Who said you are?” I asked.

And that was enough.

I put my hands on her thighs and pulled her flesh against me, my breathing ragged and I hadn't even kissed her yet. Breanna's hands still held on tightly to my shirt. She wrapped her legs around my waist and I tightened the grip that I had on her.

She raised her eyes from my lips to meet mine, and there, I pressed my lips to hers.

There, at that moment, I unraveled the feelings that seemed to have been bottled up from the day we met.

I hadn't been with many women in my time. Just Jewel. And I couldn't count how many times I'd kissed her.

But this kiss, standing in Breanna's kitchen in the wee hours of the night, passionate, longing, needy, sent my mind into a spin and I could barely think. I could barely breathe.

I didn't even want to.

All could think of was Breanna, her form in my hands, molding herself against me, breathless, as she kissed me back fervently and earnestly.

Never in my life had I kissed or been kissed like it was all that mattered in the world, and in my mind, I hated myself for having taken so long to kiss Breanna. If I could turn back time, I would have kissed her in my kitchen that day, at the office, in the car, in the elevator.

But for now, I resolved to enjoy her when I did have her... right now.

When she pulled away, my head followed her involuntarily, wanting to be near her. I opened my eyes and she was staring at me.

“Aiden.”

I smiled. Her voice sang my name and I wanted to hear her say it again and again.

“Yeah?” I asked, my voice coming out ragged from breathlessness.

“What did we just do?” she asked, gripping me tightly.

“What we should have been doing for a long time,” I told her.

I put one hand around her waist and covered her hand that was against my chest with the other. I pulled her to me so that she no longer sat on the kitchen counter, but was wrapped around me, well and truly mine.

I twirled her into her living room and she laughed. Setting her down on her dining table, she didn't loosen her legs from around my waist. I smiled and bent my head to hers and kissed her.

“Aiden,” she said when I pulled back, so I kissed her again.

I planted kiss after kiss on her lips, unable to get enough of her.

“Do you want me to stop?” I asked her, as she repeated my name.

She looked up at me and a slow smirk crossed her lips. She raised her hands from my chest to my neck, leaving a trail of heat as she did.

Fuck it!

I immediately dipped my head down and kissed the exposed skin of her neck and shoulder and she rolled her head back, letting me.

Oh?

I raised my head, questioning her.

“Don't judge me Aiden” she chuckled, pulling me in and wrapping her arms around my neck.

“I would never” I smiled.

She smiled back and leaned into me.

“So just kiss me.”

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

Westminster, London

~Ophelia~

I picked up her picture from the coffee table.

“You just had to throw your life away with that gardener, didn't you, Jew?” I muttered, shaking my head.

Tsking, I put her picture back.

“Ms. Barrett? The car's ready for you” the elderly chauffeur announced.

I turned.

“I thought you crashed the car nights ago.”

“Insurance, Ms. Barrett.”

I scoffed.

“We still have that?”

“Yes, ma'am.”

“Hmm. I'll be there in a minute.”

He nodded and walked away. I took one last look at the house. I couldn't believe I was going to lose everything in just ten years. It was too soon!

“Ms. Barrett?”

I groaned and rolled my eyes.

“I said I'll be there in a minute, Mr. Baker,” I said firmly, not turning around.

“Forgive me ma'am but it's the lawyer.”

My heart skipped.

The lawyer?

Was there more to the will we'd missed maybe?

I whirled around.

“Well what are you standing around for? Let him in!”.

“Yes, ma'am.”

He hurried off and I began to pace up and down anxiously.

“Ophelia” he called out as he stepped into my once luxurious living room, making me stop the pacing.

“Mr. Davies” I acknowledged. “It's been a decade since the reading of the will. I see you're well.”

He scoffed and glanced around the room and then at me.

“I can't say the same for you, ma'am.”

I frowned.

“Don't patronize me, Robert. I can still ruin you.”

“Like you did to her?” he gestured to Jewel's picture.

I followed his gaze and angrily flipped the picture over.

“She made her choice.”

“And even though you never approved, you somehow managed to get her to will everything to you.”

My eyes snapped to his face.

“I'm her only family. I deserved it. Her money was mine first.”

“Yet your father willed it all to your brother and he to his only daughter.”

“It was unfair for them to cut me out when their blood runs through my veins too. I'm a Barrett! I was before her!”

“And I see how wisely you used all those billions” he scoffed looking around again. “You've reduced yourself to breadcrumbs.”

I clenched my fist.

“What do want, Davies? If this isn't about the will, get out of my house.”

“The house you're losing? Or you found another old fool to prey off on?”

I chuckled nastily.

“I'm not the first woman to run off on her husband's money.”

“Fifth husband” he chipped in. “I'm sure you're not.”

“You're getting on my nerves, Davies. If you have nothing good to say to me, I'll ask you to leave because I have lunch with a friend.”

Robert Davies pursed his mouth in a self-satisfied smirk.

“I do have news. But I doubt you'll be happy about it.”

“Then I don't want to hear it. Can't you see I'm already upset?!” I exclaimed, throwing my arms in the air.

“I don't really care, Ophelia.”

I looked at him and shook my head.

“What do you have to tell me? Just say it and go.”

He opened his briefcase and brought out a file which he handed over to me.

“What is this?”

“Justice.”

“For who?”

“Jewel... and that nice man you hated so much.”

I scoffed.

“He was a gardener, Davies. What life could he have given my niece?” I asked. “He and that little flea-stricken sister of his were just parasites. They were just after my little girl's money. I wasn't going to sit around and let them feed off her.”

“Maybe” he shrugged. “But now you're the one going to wish you were feeding off him and the child.”

I let out a laugh.

“What exactly do they have that I'm going to need?” I asked. “Even at my lowest, Davies, I am a thousand times better than them.”

He smiled.

“Open it” he simply stated.

I flipped the file open.

“What is this?”

“A trust fund... set up by your niece.”

My eyes snapped to his face.

“Jew had a trust fund?”

“Yes.”

“And you're telling me this now? Why?!”

“I found out a few days ago. And as much as it pains me to tell you, I had to because it's my job.”

I let out a relieved laugh and raised my hands toward the ceiling in gratitude. I wasn't going to be poor. I wasn't going to be sleeping another day at rock bottom's basement. I was saved!

“I wouldn't be rejoicing so much if I were you, Ophelia.”

“Oh and why not?” I mocked.

“She didn't name you as the trustee.”

I furrowed my brows.

“What do mean she didn't name me as the trustee? I'm the only family she has!”

“Well she didn't,” he smirked. “She named the child.”

“That flea-stricken girl?!”

Davies folded his arms.

“I thought so too when I went through the first time,” he said. “But no, it's another child... one she had with her husband.”

I broke out into hysterical laughter.

“A child?” I questioned. “You can't have a child with no womb, Davies, don't be stupid.”

He tilted his head.

“Yes,” I confirmed. “She was a reckless teenager... even before my brother died. Her mother died in childbirth so I was the only mother figure in her life” I shrugged, “I agree I didn't do a very good job raising her. But it wasn't my fault she couldn't control her sexual urges. And even if I had talked her out of getting her womb removed, all that chemotherapy wouldn't have let her conceive.”

I lifted the file.

“So this... Robert Davies... is nothing but bullshit!”

“Maybe” he smiled. “But that didn't stop her from getting a surrogate.”

A chill snaked up my spine.

“A surrogate?”

He nodded.

“No. You're making that up, Davies.”

“Read on.”

I fervently flipped through the pages of the file and there was a document... a surrogacy agreement between a woman named Gabriella James and my niece and the gardener. I was about to call it crap when my eyes landed on the signatures. A pit formed in my stomach and I felt sick.

That signature...

It was hers. There was no mistaking it. I dreamt about that signature for years. I tried to forge it countless times but even the best criminal couldn't because it was too complex. It couldn't possibly be a fake either because no one could fake my niece's signature this good. And I lived with her until her dying moment.

She has a child out there?

I put the agreement away and flipped through the trust fund document. Davies was right. The child had been named the trustee.

Of all this money and assets I had no idea she possessed?!

“How is this possible?” I muttered. “How could she do this to me?! How could she keep all of this from me?!”

“Oh you poor thing” the lawyer mocked. “You lost to an infant.”

I went back to the document and read through it. There had to be a clause, a loophole, something!

“There always is!” I muttered angrily.

“Last page” Davies coughed.

My head snapped up.

“What?”

“The loophole you're seeking... it's on the last page” he clarified. “I don't know what she saw in you to put you everywhere” he shook his head.

I ignored his taunting and hurriedly flipped to the last page where my niece had named me her third trustee.

Third?!

“Third?!” I exclaimed.

Is that how little I meant to her? She picked the flea-stricken girl over me!

“No worries” I muttered angrily under my breath.

There was an easy fix to that. All I had to do was find that gardener, find his flea-stricken sister and the child, and eliminate them.

It wasn't going to be the first time I'd gotten rid of someone.

“Don't do it, you greedy old woman” Davies said, shaking his head at me. “It's your grandchild.”

I scoffed.

“Even if the child had my Barrett blood running through its veins I'd do it. And when it doesn't? Piece of cake, Davies” I smirked. “No one takes what's truly and rightfully mine.”

No one!

“And I'm going to find them and make sure of that.”

“Find them where Ophelia? It's been ten years. You don't expect the earth to just cough them up, do you?”

I let out a laugh and smiled at Davies.

“I'll make the earth cough them up if I have to” I assured.

He shook his head at me.

“I pity you.”

“Keep your pity, Robert” I sneered.

“Madam Ophelia! Madam Ophelia!” the cook I'd laid off last night rushed in screaming.

“What are you doing here yelling out my name like that, Patty?! I already told you that I can't rehire you!”

“I'm sorry ma'am. I really am” she said between heavy panting. “But you have to see this!”

“See what?”

She bent down and held her knees as she took in deep breaths.

“Television...” she panted, pointing to the TV.

“You came here to watch television?” I asked.

She furiously shook her head.

“The news...”

“Madam Ophelia!” one of the women that used to work with the cook cried, hurrying in.

“What? You want to watch the television too?!” I huffed.

“Lady Jewel's husband is on the news!” she grinned.

“What husband?” I frowned.

“The gardener!” another one of the servants who worked here ten years ago hurried in and announced excitedly.

I glanced at Davies who had already turned on the TV.

Headline: Ian Forbes Invests Ten Million Kuwaiti Dinar in Jewel Interactive Corporation.

I stumbled backward, the news physically knocking me over. I glanced at Robert whose face had gone pale and his eyes wide as he listened to the news.

“Ian Alexander Forbes, a prominent investor, has invested ten million Kuwait dinar that's worth over thirty-two million American dollars, in Jewel Interactive, a leading provider in the tech industry. Jewel Interactive, which had been thriving impressively on its own for a decade now under founder and CEO, Aiden Elias Corleone. This investment will allow Jewel Interactive to expand its offerings and accelerate its growth even more.”

I blinked rapidly and furrowed my brow in confusion.

“Wait, what?” I asked, not believing what I was hearing.

“Ian Forbes' investment was finalized on October 6th, and will be used to fund Jewel Interactive's rumored expansion plans.”

My hands shook and my voice trembled as I tried to speak.

“That's impossible,” I stammered. “It can't be true.”

Suddenly Patty let out a cry of surprise and covered her mouth with her hand. Her eyes darted around the room briefly before she pointed back to the television.

“It's him!”

His voice reached my ears before I turned and it shook me in my core.

“We are truly excited to have Mr. Forbes as an investor in Jewel Interactive,” he said. “This investment will allow us to accelerate our growth and continue to provide the best of our innovative technology.”

“That was the CEO and founder of Jewel Interactive...”

My jaw dropped and my eyes bulged as I listened to the news. Mr. Baker, my chauffeur, let out a low whistle and shook his head in disbelief.

“I never would have recognized the boy,” he muttered under his breath. “He's done great things.”

I felt my throat dry up and I paled.

“Turn off the TV” I instructed.

“But ma'am the news...”

“I said turn the damn thing off!” I exclaimed and angrily threw my niece's small framed wedding picture at the TV, causing it to crack.

“Ms. Barrett...”

“Out!" I screamed. "All of you... out!”

“Madam Ophelia...”

“Out I said!”

They filed out, muttering amongst themselves. My chest heaved. Anger, fright, hatred... all of it together.
Robert chuckled and picked up his briefcase.

“Your end is near Ophelia. Pull out before it's too late.”

“Never” I sneered.

Shaking his head at me, he gave me a pat on the shoulder and walked out.

“You're not going to win, Ophelia! Not before I get to Virginia” he called out on his way through the front door.

My heart skipped. I couldn't let him get there before me. He'd ruin everything. I quickly looked around for my purse. When I found it, I rummaged through it for my phone. His number was on speed dial and so I quickly called him. He picked up on the first dial.

“Oh I was starting to think you'd forgotten about me, my beautiful old hag” he chuckled.

“Cut the crap, Dion” I hissed. “I have a job for you.”

“If it's for your son-in-law, I'll take twice that Kuwait money.”

“Aiden's mine to take care of” I warned.

He let out a cynical laugh.

“Oh we're getting our hands dirty again, aren't we?”

“Shut up.”

“Whatever you say, old hag” he chuckled. “Who do want gone?”

“That old fool, Davies” I instructed, grabbing my purse and marching up the stairs to my bedroom.

My luggage was already packed for the sale of the house. But that was going to have to wait. I need to get to Virginia so I could get rid of that cursed child and Aiden's sister.

Maybe milk some money from Aiden, then finish him off too.

“When do you want him gone?”

“Yesterday, Dion!”

“Understood.”

I hung up and exhaled deeply as I tossed my phone on the bed. Moving to my drawer, I slipped on my black glove and wrapped my hand around the metallic weapon. I took one last glance at Jewel's portrait that hung on the wall and dipped my head at her in acknowledgment.

Then I turned my head in the direction of their wedding picture which had been framed bigger than any picture in the entire house, and fired.

Thank you so much for reading! ✨