2024-10-06 21:51:09
Previous Chapter
Related Chapters
From Prison Bars To Gold Bars. 24. Boutique
After the commotion died down, Van and Ivy left the hotel but rather than going right back to her place, they went to a nearby restaurant to talk. "First of all Ivy, let me apologize for all that transpired between us. Normally, I'm not the type of guy that would do anything to hurt a woman and honestly, asides from Bianca, you're the only other woman I've ever been with. I'm not trying to praise myself or anything, I just want you to know that I'm not a bad person.""Yeah, I hink I know that now." Ivy didn't want to admit it but Van felt like the perfect father figure for her kids. In fact, she was almost glad to have someone like him as their father. "Not to be rude or anything but you need a change of outfit. I wouldn't want our kids to see you wearing that."When she said 'our kids' rather than 'my kids', Van felt a warmness in his heart. He was a father, for real. It wasn't a joke or a prank, he really was a father. It was overwhelming but at the same time…pleasant. "Yeah, I fi
From Prison Bars To Gold Bars. 25. A Gift From The Heart
Van was surprised to find another of his classmates at the boutique. It felt like he had seen almost all the people he went to school with. "Jessica?""Oh wow, if it isn't my old classmate. It's been a while, hasn't it?""Yes. It really has. Have you been well?""I think that is pretty obvious. Don't you?""Well that's nice.""Would you let go of the poor security now? It's a bit rude to rough handle him like hat. Don't you think?"Back when they were in school, Jessica wasn't one of the Queen Bs but she came from an averagely okay family. Both her parents had to work hard to support her educational needs and she did her best to stand out from other students. Lacking in both fame and wealth, Jessica decided to stand out with brilliance. But even that was difficult for her, and so Van took on the job of tutoring her after class and during weekends. They never actually became close friends but among the others, she was the least annoying. Looking at her now, Van wasn't so sure if she
From Prison Bars To Gold Bars. 26. Van, A Mystery
Before Ivy got pregnant, her grandmother had arranged for her to get married. "But grandma, I can't possibly get married now, I'm only nineteen! There are so many things I would rather be doing with my life than planning a wedding.""Ivy, listen to me. As a businesswoman, I understand the idea of wanting to improve in what you do. I understand the way you feel, you want to make a name for yourself in the business world, you want to become the best at this. And I think I know why.""Look grandma, I really don't –""This is because of your grandfather, am I right? You feel bad about what happened to him so you want to live up to his legacy and probably even surpass it. You want to prove to your father that you are more than just the child of a mistress. Isn't it?Well sweetie, I understand that. But the longer you stay single, the more people begin to speculate that maybe you're just like your mother.""And what is so wrong with being like my mother?!" Ivy was always on the defensive w
From Prison Bars To Gold Bars. 27. The Promise
Ivy didn't know what to say, she just stood there, frozen in shock. Did he actually make the transfer? It couldn't be a fake alert right? There was no way Van would try to dupe someone like that…even if Pharrell was a huge asshole. But where on earth would he get such a huge amount of money?Pharrell and Jessica couldn't hide their surprises either. Their eyes were glued to the phone, reading the alert message over and over again. "I…impossible! This must be some kind of trick." Pharrell said, facing Van. "There is no way that a sorry looking person like you could ever afford such anount of money. This must be a fake alert!""Yes… that's true." Jessica agreed. "Even before he went to prison, Van was a nobody. And for the past five years, he has been in prison. So tell me, where does a prisoner get this much money?""A fake alert huh? Very well then. Shall we confirm? But keep in mind, once it's clear that it's real, you'll have to apologize to me and my wife for insulting us in publ
From Prison Bars To Gold Bars. 28. New Van
As Van walked through the little gates of his mother house, he noticed her standing by the door, a worried expression on her face. "Oh goodness me, you had been gone for so long that I was starting to worry." She said as he let himself into the little house. "Sorry about that mom, it has been a very long day. And in the end, I couldn't even get any shopping done. But it's alright, because I got something even better." He announced with a smile. "Oh? And that might that be?""Mom, we're moving out of this place.""What?"On his way back home, Van had placed a call to his chauffeur and asked him to contact an agent that could provide a new, comfortable place where he could raise a family. He was going to have to get permission from Ivy for that, but he just decided to get the place first. "I know it's shocking, but I want you to know that your son isn't doing anything illegal." That alone would not suffice as an explanation for his mother, and he knew that. "I met someone, a woman.
From Prison Bars To Gold Bars. 29. Elaine
Elaine decided to go shopping to clear her mind. She hadn't been able to get Van out of her mind. To think that he would boldly turn down the offer to marry a woman like her, and in front of people too! The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. What did Ivy have that she didn't? Was it beauty? She was very beautiful, and she wasn't just praising herself. Different companies had approached her with various offers for her to become the face of their products. She had even reached the top five of most beautiful woman every year for three years in a row. Was it intellect?She graduated at the top of her class in highschool and college. Her father was always commending her on how she was doing a good job managing his business. She had even come up with some ideas that fetched millions for her father's business. Or was it wealth? It was no secret that her family was filthy rich. And everything her parents owned also belonged to her. Plus, she could say that she helped in gett
From Prison Bars To Gold Bars. 30. Family
After getting their outfits and jeweleries, they were done. They got a taxi all the way back to Oakland and made their way to Ivy's residence. When they got there, Van suddenly started to feel nervous, like he was going for a job interview or auditioning for a movie role. He cleared his throat as he knocked on her door. A couple of seconds later, the door was opened and behind it, a little girl with a few missing teeth smiled at him. "Are you my daddy?" She asked, a confused expression on her face. "Yes. Yes I am." Van replied with a soft smile. "Mommy! Mommy!! It's daddy, daddy's here." She announced with an enthusiastic excitement, running from the front door over to Ivy and back. "Daddy?" A little boy stared at Van, and tears began streaming down his face. "Is daddy going to get a hug?" Van went down on his knees and opened his arms, hoping the kids didn't actually hate him for not being around all those years. Taking one cautious step after the other, both kids approached h
From Prison Bars To Gold Bars. 31. Heavenly Wears
"What?" Ivy had to take a minute to fully understand what Van said. "You…you want to take the kids with you?" She asked. She knew what he meant but she just wanted to be sure. "No, of course not. I want all of us to live together. You and the kids, me and my mom …as a family. I already asked someone to contact an agent and when there's an available place, we can go and check it together.""So …you want to live with me.""Yes. Don't take this the wrong way, this isn't me asking you out." He explained. "Oh." Ivy didn't know why but she felt disappointed when he said that. He seemed to notice too because he quickly added. "Not that I'm not going to ask you out– I mean, I'm not going to ask you out if you don't want —what I'm trying to say is this. I want us to bond as a family. I want to spend as much time as I can with the kids, and I also want to spend time with you. I want to get to know you better, I want to be your friend…and if our relationship blooms more than that, being your
Latest Chapter
102. Abduction
Macy wondered why Ivy was always against her doing things for Jasper. It was no secret that she was against it when she mentioned having a joint account with him as well. Could it be that she knew something she wasn't telling her?Or was she just against her relationship with him because Jasper was younger?She would have to ask her once she went back. Just as she got out of the bathroom, a tall buff man blocked her path. "Hey pretty, wanna dance?""No. Now please excuse me , I have to get back to my date." She tried to by pass him but he stopped her. "What is it?""I'm afraid you have to come with me." He ordered. "Excuse me? I don't have to do anything, now get the hell out of my way." Again when she tried to leave he stopped her. This time with something else. "Does this change your mind?" He asked in an intimidating tone as he touched her with the revolver in his hand. Macy froze up, unable to speak or do anything else. "Now that you're calm, how about we try this again. Woul
101. The Club
After the doctor did one last check on Van, he was discharged and free to go home. They packed up their things, and Van was all set to leave. Since they had concluded that Cynthia had people that were monitoring him, Ivy decided to call Boyd for help. "This is what we're going to do," he started. "Since we don't know who those people are, or where they are. Van and I are going to switch our outfits, then I'll leave with Ivy and Van heads on a separate route to the hotel he wants to stay in. That way, people would think that I'm you, and they'd follow Ivy and I.""Wow, that's actually pretty smart." Van said after Boyd was done with his explanation. "Let's just hope it works. But why don't you want to complain to the police? I mean the drug she gave Van could have hurt him badly. You even have the test results to back your claims.""You're right, but Van and I came here for honeymoon. We don't want anything complicated like a police case. Besides, we don't know where she lives, we
100. Reconciliation
"Hey,"Ivy immediately perked up as she heard his voice. "Van, hey, are you okay?""Yeah, I think so." He slowly sat up. "Were you here all night?""Oh is it morning already?" Ivy had lost track of time but she knew she had been sitting by his bed for a while. "Are you sure you're okay now?"He nodded. "Yes. My head isn't hurting anymore, and I feel okay.""That's good." she had been worried sick after he passed out the night before. "Hey, about last night –""You need your rest, we can talk about it later.""No, please hear me out."Ivy had almost forgotten about it and she didn't even feel angry anymore. But for her to completely forget about it, they needed to talk. "Okay.""Cynthia told me she could help in getting Chris to stop bothering you.""What?""I know, I know, it was stupid of me to believe her. But I just- I thought she was being sincere. Or at least I hoped she was. We went to this hotel, but we only sat by the bar. She told me that Chris hired someone to try to get b
99. The Picture
When Van came around, he was in an unfamiliar room. He quickly sat up to scan his surrounding but that was a horrible mistake. "Argh!" A sharp pain shot through his head and his entire body felt weak. He looked down and was horrified to find that he was not putting on anything. With panic shooting through him, Van quickly got off the bed and put on his clothes and he rushed out of the room. Cynthia was nowhere to be seen and Van didn't know if he was supposed to be relived or angry. He was mostly angry at himself for letting her make a fool of him. He knew that it was a bad idea to see her, his gut kept telling him that something would go wrong, but he chose to ignore it, and now he was regretting it. He couldn't recall what happened between them–if anything had happened – but he knew that there was no way that Cynthia would have such an opportunity and not do something incriminating. Probably she took a picture of him and would try to threaten him with it in the future. He wonder
98. Trouble Brewing
Cassie smiled as she stared at herself in the mirror, finally she had the perfect face she had been yearning for. Ever since that day, since that moment, she knew she would have to do everything in her power to get what she wanted, and finally, she had it. She had waihed five long years for him, and when he finally came to her, she was still never given her chance. The world was cruel to her, too cruel. Then she realized something, if she wanted to have a happy ending, she would have to make it by herself. If she didn't take charge of her life, then rather than what she wanted, life would just give her anything it felt like. Luck seemed to shine down on her when she received a call from Chris saying that he had a very important job for her, and that job turned out to be her Van. She had finally been given her chance, and there was no wayshe was going to mess it up. ★★★"Cassandra Gardner," Van repeated the name, there was something very familiar about it. Almost like he used to
96. Sandra
A FEW YEARS AGO. "Good morning Sandra, it appears we're on the same team for our project." Van said as he sat next to her. "Uh g-goo–d m-morning. I-I l-look forward to w-working with you.""Same here." "S-so I was thinking –""Hey Van! It's time to leave." "Oh okay, I'll be there in a minute." He got to his feet and smiled at her. "See you tomorrow then.""Huh? Hmm." She nodded and he walked off. As Sandra watched Van smile and joke with Bianca, she couldn't help but feel sad. She wished she was the one he was holding, she wanted to be the one he would smile at like hat. Ever since her highschool days, she never had any friends. Her parents were okay, but compared to the other students, she was poor. The only way she was able to attend such expensive highschool and university was because of the scholarship her father arranged for her. She had grown used to being the shadow in the classroom, that one person that no one else saw or interacted with, and she wasn't complaining. Sure
96. Dangerous Criminal
Van paced around his bedroom, he still couldn't get Cynthia out of his head. There was no way she had been telling the truth, right?His gut feeling kept telling him that somethimg was wrong somewhere, he just didn't know where. Could she really have turn a new leaf and was genuinely trying to help he and Ivy? But if she were, why would she go as far as begging on her knees. If he was the one trying to help someone and they insisted that they didn't need his help, there was no way he would go as far as begging them. Chances are that she would just try to do something crazy again that would no doubt get him in trouble with Ivy. But what if she was actually being sincere? What if she could actually have some information that could help them deal with Chris once and for all. Their honeymoon would end on a sweet note. Still contemplating on whether his decision was a smart one or not, Van got dressed and made his way to the spot she said to meet her. When he came to stand in front of
95. The Encounter
"Yoo hoo!" Cynthia smiled and waved at Van, trying to get his attention. Van, who had already spotted her even before she saw him, pretended like he wasn't the one she was talking to. The second he laid eyes on her, he turned and started to rush off in the opposite direction. Cynthia was never one to take no for an answer, so she started to run after him. Just as he was about to get on the bus, she caught up to him and grabbed a hold of his sleeve. "Good morning." She said with a bright smile on her face. "What do you want this time? I'm honestly sick and tired of you randomly popping up out of nowhere and making my life difficult." He had a dry expression on his face as he spoke. "Oh come on, are you still upset about last time? Well don't be. This time I actually have something important to say to you.""Yeah, just like you did the last time too. Just leave me the hell alone, and stay away from Ivy as well." He started to walk away when she spoke up. "Aren't you tired of havin
94. Desperate
"Fancy running into you here."Cynthia almost choked on her soda when she heard Sandra's voice. The voice that had swept her off her feet. The voice she had completely fallen for. The voice that made her heart tremble when she heard it. "H-hey." She managed to say. "What are you doing here all by yourself? Shouldn't you be spending time with your friends?" She didn't give Cynthia a chance to reply before she went on. "Then again, I'm sure you don't have any friends. Just like back then, you're probably still a lonely weirdo, and that's the reason you agreed to take Chris's job. To while away your time. Am I right?The beautiful but lonely Cynthia was so bored of her ordinary, uninteresting life, so she decided to become a seductress. That way you won't have to be bored, and you can make a few bucks off Chris. It's sad. I don't blame you though. I can only imagine how tough your life must be. No friends, no lover. I mean, after everything you even failed to seduce just one man. I
