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Her words felt like a hammer struck my heart. “Are you crazy?” I couldn’t believe I was saying that to her.

“This is not about being crazy. It’s what’s needed. I’ve thought about it long and hard, and the only conclusion is that it’ll be selfish of me to stay with you, knowing what’s to come.” Tears started streaming down her face.

“We’ll face it together. That’s the point of marriage. Together, in good and bad times. Our marriage vows were not for the sake of showoff.”

“That’s cliché.” She sniffled. “Tristan, please, we’re not characters in a movie or a book. This is not a matter of whether we can fight this together. It’s reality, and we need to face it. I’m heading for destruction, that’s for sure, but I’m not pulling you down with me.” She held my hands. “I love you so much, and this is the best choice.” The pang in my heart was starting to feel like a burning sensation, irritated that she could think of such.

I yanked my hands from her grip, rising to my feet. “Stop with this ‘I’m doing it for you’ crap. This is my life, and you want to ruin it. “

“The only thing that’ll ruin your life is this marriage.” She retorted, making a tight feeling cloud my chest.

“Hazel, I love you! Don’t you get it? I can’t live or breathe without you. I can’t explain how, but I’m madly, crazily in love with you, and your past is not going to change that.

“You know it is. It’s already changing things. Are you gonna lie you’re not viewing me in a different perspective since you found out?”

I wanted to lie, but my conscience ate me up. Letting out a sigh, I held her hands. “I admit I'm afraid and it’s a huge surprise, but I can assure you that it doesn’t change or affect my love for you. You’ve done a lot of… things, and I’m scared, but that’s called being human. No normal human would feel calm about it.

“Exactly. It’s not normal.”

“I know, but I’m still staying. I love you way beyond anything getting in our way. Call me crazy or a psychopath, but I’m not leaving you despite your past.”

Tears streamed down her face and her voice broke, “Tristan,”

“Hazel,” I called back, pulling her into a hug. She sobbed in my chest. “it’s okay.” I stroke her hair. “It’ll be fine, I promise. Don’t let us make any hasty decisions. It’ll all be over soon.’

She sobbed incessantly, my shirt soaking up a pool of tears as we stayed like that for a good while.

“Let’s head back home. We have work tomorrow.” Pulling away, I wiped her tears with my thumb.

She sniffled. “Right. I almost forgot.”

“let’s go.’ I held her hands as we walked back to our car. “Please don’t ever scare me like that again.” She didn’t say anything in response, just gazing ahead with gloom reeling around her eyes.

I had to think of a solution as fast as possible.



‘Hey, how is work? I hope you’re not too stressed out.’ I texted Hazel for the umpteenth time, staring at the phone at short intervals to see if she had responded.

‘It’s chill today. Not so stressful’ she texted back, then I sighed. Since she talked about the ridiculous divorce last week, my heart had been racing like she could leave me anytime soon.

Divorcing Hazel? That had never crossed my mind. Despite the misunderstandings we had at the start of our marriage, I was never going to divorce her.

Kye walked in, dropping a box of files on my table.

“Hey, man. How are you?” I asked as he plopped himself on the chair across from mine.

“I feel like I’m going crazy. Charlotte is going to be discharged this week, but our baby is still going to be kept in the NICU. We aren’t prepared enough for the baby. We planned on getting everything ready for the baby in three weeks, and now…” He ran his hand over his face with a sigh.

“It’s okay. It’ll be fine.” I convinced him. “Are you supposed to be at work right now? You should be with your family.”

“No, it’s fine. I have a lot to deal with and I can’t cancel them. Plus, with our child, I can’t risk losing any deals. We need to boost our financial life to meet all of his needs.”

I paused; he wasn’t wrong, but he still needed to take care of himself. “Have you had anything to eat today?”

“Food? Really? At a time like this, food is the last thing on my mind.” He reached for a bottle of water on my table and chugged it in one drought.

“Okay, that’s it. Let’s have lunch, then you’ll take a break from work. I’ll do your job.” I rose up, tapping the table, “Get up.”

“You don’t have to. You have a lot on your plate as well. It’s okay.”

“I’m not asking you. I’m doing it regardless of what you say. Now, get up.” I ordered. He gave a faint, grateful smile, and rose up.

We left the office room and decided to walk over to the restaurant instead of driving to enjoy nature’s cool air.

On our way, I noticed Indy running towards us, wearing a loose-fit tank top, leggings, and black running shoes. My eyes widened and I glanced over at Kye who had the same expression, confirming I wasn’t seeing things.

“Didn’t you arrest her”

“We did!”

Her gaze met ours and she smirked till she stopped in front of us. “Hey, boys. Surprise, surprise.”  Chuckling, she wiped sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand. “Didn’t I tell you that I was going to be back? “She chuckled, glancing at both of us before she fixed her gaze on me. “I’m more dangerous than you thinking and now have more power than I have ever had.”

“What is wrong with you, Indy? Whatever happened to you?” Kye asked. From the way his face had turned red, I could tell he wanted to toss her off a bridge or something, but from his tone, he was genuinely concerned about her.

“Nothing happened to me. I’ve always been this way, but I’m sick and tired of pretending to be a sweetheart. It didn’t help me get what I want, but with force, I will.” She was still focusing on me. “Our baby will be here soon. Be ready.” With that, she resumed her run.

Kye’s forehead creased in confusion. “What the hell was that about? Are you---”

“No.” I frowned, annoyed that he would even think of that. “I’m not the father of her baby. Indy has gone insane.” We resumed walking.

“She just said ‘our baby’. Are you sure you never slept with her before getting married?”

“No!” I snapped, feeling blood rush under my skin. “Kye, don’t ask such stupid questions. Indy and I never had such relations, and even if we were ever intimate, it was in high school. She’s just trying to plot something, and I’m not letting her have her way!” I growled, my hands balling into fists.



I had gone to lunch with Kye, gotten information from his PA about what I needed to help him out with, and now, I had to deal with my business.

“Rob, come to my office.” I said and hung up.

After a while, a knock vibrated against the door. “Come in.”  I said and Rob walked in, stopping in front of me with a bow.

“Hey. What does my schedule look like for the rest of the week.”

“Honestly,” he pulled up his tablet, “you have nothing much going on this week, just a meeting with Rhode’s Smith, then you are free for the weekend.”

“Okay, perfect! I’ll get Kye’s job done before the week is over. I need you to do two things for me,” I started, and he tapped on the screen to type, “First, book a weekend vacation for me and Hazel… you pick a place, somewhere calm and romantic.” He nodded, “Secondly, I need you to search for someone. His name is Giovanni.”

“Is there anything in particular? Any description of what he looks like, his last name, or any information you want?”

“I don’t know his last name. He should be middle-aged, I guess, but he would have a lot of criminal records, have dealings with politicians and other rich men. The most important information I want is his whereabouts.”

He nodded, typed for a while. “Okay, I’ll do the best I can and talk to the team.”

“Thank you.” I said and he gave a rather awkward smile. He was clearly still not used to me appreciating him, unlike before. “Oh, yeah. Regarding the Bandon High School principal, he confirmed that Teressa indeed attended that school. However, she was known to be a notorious criminal because of her father. From what I could understand, she had to drop out of school, then he she had been proclaimed dead by her father, a few months after she left high school.”

My face twisted. I honestly wanted to strangle the ghost of that bastard of her father. Who declared their child dead? My desire was that he was burning in hell.

“When he spoke about her father, he mentioned that he had seen him recently,”

“What?” I jerked to my feet.

“Yes.”

“Are you sure? Was he certain?”

“Yes, sir. I asked him if he was certain and he said, ‘the man was and is hard to miss’, so he was certain it was her father.”

My fists clenched on the table. The idiot is alive and roaming freely? “Rob, I’ll need you to find him and let the men capture him.” That bastard, Giovanni, is not ready for what is about to hit him.