Chapter 30

CASEY lifted her eyes open when she heard a loud thump beside her head. The side of her neck ached due to her sleeping position. With half-lidded eyes, she looked around and thought for a moment that she was maybe dreaming. She can’t remember what happened yesterday like she always does these past few days. And, she’s beginning to hate herself for being such a toxic woman in her age.

“Casey!” Boss Miguel’s voice awakened her senses. “When will you stop sleeping on your shift?”

She yawned and stretched her arms lazily. “I don’t know the answer…” she said and leaned on her swivel chair. “I don’t have any scandal news to write today…”

Boss Miguel slapped his hand on the desk that made Casey jumped on her seat. She looked up and glared at her head editor. The man suddenly stepped back when he caught her glare. “Hey, don’t give me that look in that face!” he said and avoided her eyes. “It’s hard to treat you the way before if you have that face.”

Casey heard Sara chuckled. “Boss, I feel you. I can’t still get used with her new face,” she agreed and went on her back to pat her head. “Be a good girl, Casey.”

Casey swept her hand away. “I don’t know what sorcery has gotten into me. When I woke up on the hospital, I lost all my interest at scooping scandals.” She ducked on her desk. “Maybe that Esperanza woman cursed my scandal news page before she went to prison.”

It’s been two months since the tragedy in Boracay event happened. It’s been two months since Casey woke up in a hospital with bandages around her body, and the Speedy team is surrounding her bed with chagrin expressions on their faces. But now, her head editor is scolding her as if she’d done a crime. She just slept on her working hours, for Christ’s sake!

“I can’t believe that the mastermind in all these bad images of Montefort Winery is the CEO’s step-mother,” Sara commented while reading the article that she made a month ago after she got released from the hospital. “Alexander must be really shocked.”

“I doubt it,” Casey said. “I think he already has suspicions and just looking for evidences. It turns out that the plane accident served as Esperanza’s karma.” She shook her head. “According to the rescuers of the accident, Esperanza just barged in the hospital and got my wounded body, claiming that I was her daughter-in-law and they have to transfer me on their care as soon as possible.”

Sara narrowed her eyes at her. “Then, Alexander just found you in the hospital, thinking that you were really Amara.”

Casey nodded. “Esperanza is afraid to lose Amara because she was her ace, without her she wouldn’t be able to do her plans inside the hacienda because Alexander lost his trust to her after his father’s death. But too bad for her, I wasn’t Amara.”

“Did you send all the evidences to Alexander?” she asked, looking worried at her. “Art said that you dumped some of the data that you extracted from the microSD card.”

She heaved a sigh. “Those were Amara’s sex scandals. Alexander doesn’t deserve to see them.” She looked at the screen. “I also told him about the signed documents I found in Amara’s drawer.”

“The hearing is ongoing now, I’m sure sooner or later, the justice for his father will be served and Montefort Winery will be back in track.” Sara smiled at her. “Are you going to see him? Is he still mad at you because of what happened before?”

Casey’s chest tightened. “We better not see each other…” She scrolled on her newsfeed. “Alexander has released his statement about his wife’s death on the plane accident. Even though he didn’t respond on questions about the woman that claimed to be Amara, the public knew that they made a mistake. It was still the hot topic on different news websites, except ours.”

Sara snorted. “Why, you wanted to write about it?”

Casey heaved a sigh. “I want to respect Alexander’s privacy. And, besides, we’ve earned more than enough from Esperanza’s exposure. Scandal is my category, but I don’t want to risk Alexander’s emotional state. I know he won’t forgive me.”

“I don’t think he’s still mad at you.” Sara reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze. “When you got shot, he was the one that brought you to the hospital and waited for the doctors to come out from the ER. He was so worried about you, Casey…”

Casey’s brows furrowed as she remembered the moment when she got shot. Alexander called her name ‘Casey’ before she passed out. “He knew…?”

Sara’s brows furrowed. “He knew what?”

Before Casey could answer, her phone’s notification beeped. She quickly picked up when she read the name flashing on her screen. “I’ll see you after lunch, Sara—”

“You’re going out with your boyfriend again?” Sara asked in an arched brow. “When will you introduce him to us? Is he also the researcher that went to different countries—”

“Nah. That asshole is my biggest mistake,” she said and walked out of the office hurriedly. She pressed the call button on her phone as she entered the elevator. “So he remembers me now?”

“Who?” A deep male voice asked from the other line. “Are you speaking with somebody?”

Casey cleared her throat. “Nah. Where are you? I’m on my way out.”

“I’ll see you at the park,” he said and hung up.

Casey’s brows furrowed as she lowered her phone. “What’s his problem?”

She was still on the other end of the street in front of the central park when her phone rang again. But because she can already see him sitting on one of the benches, she discarded his call. Casey laughed as she watched his expression turned confused while trying to redial her number again.

“Why so grumpy?” she asked and sat beside him. “What do you want to eat for lunch?”

The man took her hand and held it near him. “Let’s go home, Casey.”

She looked up at him. “How did you know that it’s me? I thought you’ve forgot about me since I left your office four years ago.” She squeezed his hand. “Alexander, I’m sorry I failed to come back for you…”

Alexander looked at her in furrowed brows. “Don’t be sorry,” he said and kissed her forehead. “I don’t know when the exact time was I realized it was you… I think I just felt it. When I read the news that there’s a woman missing on the plane accident, my suspicions raised. So I went to the forensics to check the corpse because no one was claiming it. And, Amara’s corpse just confirmed my suspicion that the woman waiting for me at home wasn’t her.” He looked at her and smiled. “So I did DNA testing between you and my former secretary’s personal things left in my office.”

Tears shone in Casey’s eyes. “Why you didn’t tell me? All this time, I thought you weren’t smart enough because you just believed that I am Amara.”

“It’s for you to do your plans,” he said and laughed. “When you continue on pretending to be Amara, I thought that maybe you’re up to something. And, I was right. Because you revealed Esperanza’s evil plans on my winery.”

“Is it the reason why you let me get away after I told you my real identity?” she asked, surprised that Alexander outsmarted her. “Ah, of course, if Esperanza found me, she wouldn’t let me leave the hacienda.”

Alexander touched her cheek and stroked her skin. “I miss you, Casey. I’m sorry I just let Amara fired you before, but it’s for your own sake. Amara is a monster—”

“I know…” Casey cut off. “And, don’t call her a monster in front me, I have her face, remember?”

“We’ll change it back before our wedding,” he said, leaning his head on hers. “I want to see my Casey waiting for me on the altar—”

“W-wait for a second,” she cut off and looked up at him. “W-Wedding?”

Instead of answering her question, Alexander lowered his head and kissed her lips passionately. Seconds later, she felt something cold is going between her fingers. Casey pulled back from his lips to look at her fingers.

“Oh, my gosh! Diamond?” she gasped. “Alexander…”

“Let’s get married, Casey…” he asked and crouched beside her. “I love you so much that I don’t want to keep our relationship secret, I want to tell the world that I’m marrying the woman that helped me overcame my fears. I want you to be my wife, Casey. Please, say yes and stay with me and Billie forever.”

Tears fell from Casey’s eyes. “I hate you,” she said and hit his shoulder. “Why it took you long to ask me that question?”

Alexander chuckled. He reached her face to wipe her tears. “I love you, Casey…”

Casey held his hand close to her cheek. “I love you too—” She covered her mouth when she suddenly felt nauseous.

Alexander knotted her forehead, then studied her face. “Wait…?”

Her brows furrowed. “What?”

The man’s smiled widened. “I’m going to be a daddy again!” he said and hugged her tightly. “I love you, Casey. I love you so much!”

—The End—