by T. R. Iyer
Ornelia’s thoughts brought her back to the album. She looked at the picture of Maximus putting the wedding ring on her finger. Little, tiny Kayden was the ring bearer and the best man.
We don’t tell Ethan that.
Beside Kayden was Ethan, showing all his teeth, hooting and cheering. In front of Kayden was his father, down on his knees.
Ornelia was on a wheelchair on her wedding day, as her leg had been healing, and standing for that long on crutches seemed like a nightmare, so Maximus had thought of improvising by getting down on his knees to be at her eye level.
Small gestures like this made him a very special man. She loved how particular and detailed he was about everything that he did. He was a successful businessman, and equally successful as a father and was probably more involved in Kayden’s and Samantha’s lives than she was .
If Ornelia’s approach as a parent was a thought-out one, Maximus’s was innate. He was a natural father figure, always present and aware of everything. He’d promised her that he wouldn’t put his kids in the same situation he had gone through as a child. He wanted to be a father who was there for them.
Her husband barely gave her any chances to complain, except for their frequent, silly banters. This was her dream—this family was her everything.
The best part was that everyone close to them settled down around and near them. Her parents had decided to move into London as they didn’t have much family left in California anyway. Plus, they loved being around the kids and spoiling them rotten. The kids also enjoyed spending time with their grandparents baking cookies and cakes. The sugar rush after a visit at theirs was hell to handle.
Ethan ended up marrying his secretary, Holly Connors. Their marriage was filled with drama. Every day was like a new episode of a telenovela.
Holly gave birth to a baby girl Miracle. The child was only three months old but a solid center of attention. It was almost impossible to keep their eyes off her when she was in the room. Her dimpled smile and big round green eyes were a killer.
Jake and Emily still lived in the city and ran three clinics. The previous year, they’d decided to adopt a child rather than have one of their own. The adoption process was ongoing. They made sure they pay Ornelia a visit twice a month on weekends. They were just as much family as everyone else was.
Ornelia taught at a university—a twenty-minute drive from where they lived—and was currently working on her doctoral dissertation.
For nine years, Maximus had made it a point to pick her up and drop her no matter what important work or meeting he had to attend. Ornelia was banned from using public transport altogether, but she loved that little time she got to spend with him.
She was brought out of her pleasant trip down the memory lane when she felt her husband’s arms wrap around her from behind.
“Hi, baby. Everyone is here, waiting for us to grace them with our presence.” He kissed her neck and her cheek. “Maybe they can wait for some time. You look delicious enough, a vision in peach,” Maximus said while grabbing her ass and referencing her peach-colored dress.
“You, naughty old man. We have the rest of our lives to ourselves. Let’s give them some time for now.” She turned around and gave him a long kiss.
“I am not that old.” Maximus pouted as they made their way down and toward the backyard for the barbeque party.
“Mmm, naughty forty, like they say,” she teased more.
“You talk a lot, wife.” Maximus swung his arm around her shoulder, as they walked out of the house.
Everyone clapped and cheered for them.
Their housekeeper and butler rolled in with a tray of a three-tiered cake.
“And somehow you never shut up, husband. Now, let’s go eat cake.”
Accidents were often unwanted, but an accident bound them, and an accident kept them together.
Some accidents are meant to be.
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Chapter 1
Emily threw her phone on the covers of her bed. It bounced once and then lay still.
She was pissed.
Parker hadn’t been answering her calls for the past hour. He was still monkeying around with the football team, hours after the end of their practice session.
Emily prided herself on not being the nagging and needy girlfriend, but this was taking things too far. Parker had promised to be early today because she really didn’t want to be late for the musical this evening that was going to begin in exactly an hour.
Emily was a theatre buff. She had saved up for three entire months so that she could get not one but two tickets for the musical. She had wanted to spend time with Parker. With all the running about due to the midterm examinations, they hadn’t gone out for a long time.
She had wanted today to be special, just the two of them, but it looked like Parker had other plans.
Emily turned to the mirror. She had taken efforts today. Her hair was curled up in a loose bun at the back of her head and showcased her slim neck. She had worn a sleeveless navy-blue dress with a sweetheart neckline that showed off her curves and completed the outfit with a pair of black sandals with high heels. Her makeup was minimal and consisted of a tinge of blush on her cheeks, eyeliner that highlighted her olive-green eyes, and a dab of lip gloss on her full lips.
She wrung her hands while she stared at her reflection.
This was the second time Parker had stood her up. The last time was when they had decided to go to his house to celebrate Thanksgiving with his family. More like with his uncle and guardian, Gage.
Parker was an only child. His parents owned their own company in Greece and lived there most of the time. Since they couldn’t be around that much for Parker, they had sent him to America to live with his mom’s younger brother.
He and Emily had met in college. She had been pursuing her medical degree at MSU and was in her second year while Parker was a third-year student.
She was an orphan and had grown under the care of her housekeeper who had chosen to look after her after she lost her dad due to cancer. Her mom hadn’t survived after giving birth to her.
After six months of knowing each other, Parker asked her out, and they began dating.
They had been together for a year now. Emily still remembered her first kiss with him and also, the night she lost her virginity. It had been their eighth-month anniversary. Parker had taken her out for dinner that day and told her that he loved her. Emily had felt like the luckiest girl.
He dropped her off at home that evening. But when he kissed her goodnight, they had suddenly found themselves inside her dorm room, tearing each other’s clothes off. They had slept together that night, and Emily couldn’t help feeling that everything had turned out perfect for them.
The musical that she had bought the tickets for was based on a famous movie, Mamma Mia, and was going to be held at the Orpheum Theatre.
She glanced at her phone again, willing it to ring, but it didn’t.
She couldn’t believe Parker could be so inconsiderate. She had called him before she began to get ready to remind him to be there on time, but he told her off by saying that she was acting like his mom and was getting on his nerves. Emily had been hurt, but she excused him, thinking he was just tired and needed a bit of time to relax with the guys.
The clock ticked by, and Emily tried calling Parker a few more times. But he didn’t answer.
The show would begin soon, and she was sure the theatre would be full today. She was starting to get frustrated when suddenly, her phone rang. Startled, she grabbed it, expecting Parker’s face to flash on the screen, but it wasn’t him.
Her hopes were shot down.
Trying to keep calm, she took a deep breath and answered the call. “Hello?”
“Emily?”
She had heard that voice before.
“Who’s this?” she asked.
“It’s Gage.”
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Chapter 1
The freezing cold air hit me like a pile of bricks, sweeping my long brown hair all over my face. If it were any other girl, it would look like a shampoo commercial but I was pretty sure I just looked all dorky and stupid. I pulled my hair away, cringing when my icy cold fingers touched my cheeks.
This was exactly why I didn’t like having my hair down, I hated having to take care of it. My hair was wavy but it was also frizzy and those two didn’t make a good combination. I usually liked to put it up in a high ponytail but my hair kept me warm, and in this freezing New York weather, I constantly had to find ways to keep myself warm. I wasn’t complaining; I loved this weather. I loved wearing cozy sweaters and scarfs and sitting close to the window somewhere with a hot cup of coffee.
I walked down the stairs as people rushed past me. I had just taken my last final of the semester and it sure felt great. Being a college student kept me really busy, but I didn’t mind at all. I liked having something to do. Especially after going through the worst possible break-up ever…
Don’t go there, Hannah.
“Ms. Collins,” Robin, my bodyguard for the day, greeted me with a nod when I made it back to the car. All of my dad’s bodyguards looked pretty much the same: tall, muscular, and always in black suits with white shirts and black ties. They also wore an earpiece so they could all be in communication in case something happened. Most people would drool over them and I probably would too, if they weren’t with me all the time.
I didn’t always have bodyguards.
My dad was a famous actor. He had been acting since he was a teenager but his big break-out movie came out about five years ago, making his popularity skyrocket. Around the same time, my mom was attacked in a restaurant parking lot. The men took her purse, jewelry, and her car but not before beating her. My dad’s success had put a spotlight on my family and people now knew my family had a lot of money which put us in danger. So we moved to a house with much more security and my dad hired an army of bodyguards.
It wasn’t just my dad’s success that put us in danger. My oldest brother, Colton, was the owner of the most famous nightclub in New York. Nicholas, my second oldest brother, had started our family’s clothing brand company and he ran it as the CEO. A year ago, my youngest brother had decided he wanted to pursue a modeling career. He was currently in Paris.
Who knew success came with a cost? It cost us our safety which was what the bodyguards were for.
Unlike my brothers, I had yet to start my career. I didn’t have the same talent as Nick and Colton in running a business or the flawless looks to become a model like my brother Derek. I liked to draw.
I wanted to be a wedding gown designer. I loved designing dresses and had a lot of sketch books in my room where I had started drafting a lot of dresses. Some pages just had doodles, others had the silhouette of a dress; each page had a random design that only I understood. The problem was that I had yet to finish a single whole gown; I always just stopped in the middle of it and started a new one.
I got in the car and Robin shut the door. I watched as he went around it and got in the driver’s seat. I looked out the window as he began to drive.
Good-bye school, I thought happily as I watched us pass by the school.
I loved school but finals week killed me mentally and drained me physically. It was enough to make me not want to set eyes on school for a while. I had a whole month to myself. I could lie around in my room, not doing anything and not feel guilty about it. It was official: I had nothing to do but draw all day if I wanted…or sleep.
Robin pulled up into the driveway and I watched as he input the six-digit code so the gates could open.
My favorite part of the house was outdoors: the green grass, the big trees, and the different flowers planted in strategic places to make up the garden. The house was beautiful, of course, but I always thought it was too big. I never understood my dad’s logic in moving us into a much bigger house after my mom’s attack. I thought it made it easier for intruders to break in because there were more windows and more doors to break into. Of course, I knew that it was my vain mother who had a lot to do in choosing the house.
The car stopped in front of the house and I opened the door before Robin had time to reach it. “I got it.” I smiled at him.
He nodded but hurried to open the front door for me. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at him. I could open my own doors, thank you very much. I wasn’t the famous actress or rich businessman. I wished they wouldn’t treat me like I was royalty when the only reason I needed bodyguards was because of my family’s success. I was no one.
Inside, the house was warm and spotless clean, like always. The living room was the first thing you saw when you walked in, with very expensive and elegant furniture. Everything in the house was so expensive and beautiful and new. The furniture, the decorative ornaments, the expensive floor almost made this house feel like an exhibit rather than a home.
Money had cost me my parents. Especially my mom.
“Honey? Is that you?” my mom called as she hurriedly made her way into the living room. Her face fell when she saw that it was just me. My mom was a very attractive woman. She was tall with perfect hips and short blond hair with piercing blue eyes. I looked nothing like her. She was always dressed up, as if ready to meet the President of the United States. I often thought how exhausting it must be to be her but she seemed to love being Christina Collins, Richard Collins’s first and only wife.
Today, she was wearing a pale pink pencil dress with white high heels, her hair was straight and she had perfect make up on. She did not look forty-five.
“Dad isn’t home yet?” I asked taking off my jacket.
“He’ll be here soon,” she said looking annoyed by my comment.
My dad was supposed to be here last week. He was out, doing interviews or something. He was currently not working in any movie and was supposed to be here by now.
“Okay,” I said as I began to make my way up the stairs.
“Dinner is almost ready,” Mom called behind me.
I just nodded.
I didn’t have the best relationship with my mom. It wasn’t always like this but money and fame had really gotten to her. Ever since my dad became famous, she began to worry about appearances more than anything. She wasn’t that motherly either, she only cared about looking good in front of the cameras. It was stupid, but I couldn’t change that. She also cared more about her sons with big businesses and careers. I think she began to be even more distant with me when I refused to let her open a business to start my own brand. She didn’t understand that I wanted to graduate first. She didn’t understand the fact that I wasn’t ready—I didn’t even have a full gown finished! She found it stupid that I didn’t want to be successful because of my dad, just like everyone else. I wanted to be successful on my own.
My phone began to ring just as I reached my room and I smiled when I looked at the caller ID.
“Hey, Pat,” I answered taking off my scarf.
“Hannah Banana, how are you?” he said on the other end.
I used to cringe when he started calling me ‘Hannah Banana’ back in middle school but I began to get used to it when I realized he wasn’t going to stop calling me that. Apparently, he thought he invented that nickname.
I smiled. “Good.”
“What are you up to?”
“Nothing,” I said as I closed my bedroom door.
“Oh come on, anything interesting? I didn’t call you to be bored to death.”
I laughed. “I’m done with finals?” I offered.
“Mmm… that’s something I guess.”
Patrick and I had been best friends since we were in middle school. He was truly my other half. I never thought a guy would understand me
better than a girl but it was true. He understood me better than anyone. After we graduated from high school, he moved to Miami for school and I haven’t seen him since then.
“What are you doing?” I asked throwing myself on the bed.
“Getting ready for the club, baby!” he yelled in my ear. “Hold up—I’m going to FaceTime you because I need outfit advice.”
“Okay,” I said rolling my eyes. He hung up and FaceTimed me a few seconds later. He was in front of a mirror, trying on different jackets.
Patrick was a fuckboy. There was no other way to describe him, maybe manwhore? He liked to sleep around. It got worse when he moved over there, just like I knew it was going to happen. Which was why, before he left three years ago, I made him take a sexual education class since high school failed to give us any useful advice.
“Now you can whore around all you want,” I had told him which made him laugh.
Sometimes, I wondered how we were still friends. It had been three years since he left and we lived in different states but somehow, we had made it work. He was all I had.
I talked with him for a while, he told me about his latest hook-up and I listened like the good friend I was. After we hung up, I got in the shower and it was when I was changing that there was a knock on the door.
“Yes?” I called as I threw a blouse over my head.
“Mrs. Collins would like me to tell you that dinner is ready,” Katie, one of our maids, called from the other side of the door.
“I’ll be right down!” I called back as I put on some jeans.
My dad must have gotten here after all. I was excited about seeing him. I missed him whenever he was gone. I finished combing my hair and then quickly made my way out. I ran down the stairs, feeling like a little girl.
“What have I told you about running down the stairs, Hannah?” my mom asked, looking annoyed when I walked into the dining room.