2025-02-12 21:15:22Still in shock, Prince tilted his head and stared at the paper on his hands. He still could not believe his eyes. If it wasn't happening before him and to him, he would have thought that it was a movie. It was like one of those things he sees on the screens.
He lifted his face and his gaze fell on the man who was going to take his place. Wait! He had already taken his place. As soon as he appended his signature on the paper, everything would be over. His eight month marriage would be gone. All the sacrifices he had made for Lara and his in-laws. Sometimes he wondered what it would have been if his father in law was alive. Would he have acted like the women and treated him like sh*t because he was a pauper?
His mind wandered back at the time when he met Lara. She sounded like a lady of great virtues. One that kept refusing to sleep with producers just to get a movie role. Alas, not all that glitters is gold.
Prince hit his forehead hard with his left hand as he paced around the place. What was he expecting? The apple never falls far from the tree. She was her mother's daughter and has been influenced by her.
Shaking his head, Prince bit his lower lip and stared at Lara. "Are you sure this is what you want? And how am I sure that the child in your womb isn't mine?"
Prince was wondering if it was really true. Even though he had fought with Kyle, he was praying in his mind that she would just laugh over it and tell him that she was just pranking him. However, what he was hoping for never happened after he wasted a few minutes.
Lara flicked her mouth impatiently. "Would you sign the damn thing and get lost. I am the mother of the baby and only I know who the father of my baby is." Lara angrily blurted out.
She turned around and saw Kyle smiling at her. Her mother was helping him nurse his injuries.
"What the heck is he still waiting for? Sign the papers and leave my daughter alone. This charade of a marriage was over even before it began. It just took a while for Lara to realize that." Lovelyn snorted coldly at him from where she was. She scoffed when she looked around the place and saw the mess that was made in their beautiful house.
"Why did you have to put up all these just to break the news to him? You should have ended it without all this drama. Gosh, you even have to make us do all these things and even wish him a happy birthday that didn't come from the heart." Lovelyn was angry for going through such stress just to get rid of Prince. However, it was worth it because the man would never spend the night at their house.
"It's his birthday mother, so we just have to make it special for him. Come on, it'll be so rude to hand him the paper on his birthday without the normal birthday tradition. I bet he was thinking that I forgot his special day and was stunned to get a surprise." Lara made a joke of him causing the others to laugh. No sooner than she finished speaking, her face suddenly ruffled into a frown.
"Now Mr Pauper Prince. Hurry up and sign the papers if you don't want me to be pissed at you. A live-in son in-law like you should be ashamed of himself. I'm ridding you of the shackles of further embarrassment. Get on with it and go get a life. You're so below my standards."
Lara walked around him, stopping right before his face. "I must have been so stupid to think that we have a future together. I know I said something about you being my lucky charm. That's also stupid of me because it was my skills and hard work that brought me to this enviable position." She glared at him and tapped on the paper.
"What are you still waiting for?"
Prince held up his left hand as a sign that he has had enough of her rants. "It's fine, I'll sign it and set you free. I think I was wrong about you. You're not different from the others. Those who would only judge a man by his outward appearance. We loved each other. Or so I thought."
Prince let out a deep sigh. He tried to reach out and touch Lara but she shoved his hand aside before he could reach her.
"Don't you dare touch me. You've had your time and it was the worst time of my life. The worst decision I've ever made was to let my heart fall for a broke *ss like you." Lara said as she rolled her eyes at him.
Lovelyn was getting impatient.
She wanted to go over and make Prince sign the papers when he held up the pen and placed his signature on it.
"Now, that's more like it. You're an obedient boy after all." Lara took the paper from him.
"Since the formalities are over and done with, it's time for you to leave my house." Lara pointed towards the door asking him not to waste anymore time. However, Prince was still standing with a lot of things going on in his mind. 'What if I snatch the paper and tear it into tiny pieces?'
Prince shook off the thought when he remembered that Lara had been cheating on him. She was sleeping with her colleagues while they were still married. He should just strangle the guy who had the nerve to be sleeping with his wife under his nose.
Lovelyn hissed from the place where she stood. "Lara. I think he should clean up this mess he made before leaving. Look how messy our house is and there's no maid around since it has been his job all these while."
Prince had been slaving himself just to make his mother in law happy. But not one day did she acknowledge his efforts. He had to make sure to do everything he could before following Lara to movie locations.
"Don't worry about it mom, I already got this covered. I've employed a maid who will be coming by later in the day." Lara replied to her mother who had a mischievous grin on her face. "If you say so. You're the boss after all."
Ignoring the people, Prince started working towards the stairs.
"And where the heck do you think you're going to?" Lara's words stopped him on his tracks.
"I'm going to get my bag?" Prince replied and Lara scoffed. "Which bag? I literally got everything for you so I'm taking it all back. Remember, the little clothes you came with are all worn out."
Lara folded her arms around her chest and walked up to Prince.
"Now leave my house."
She suddenly flashed a smile at him and walked over to where Kyle was standing. "I almost forgot Prince. You're invited to our engagement ceremony tomorrow." She held Kyle by the arm, a mocking smile plastered on her face.
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Kyle took the opportunity to taunt him more. He stopped nursing his wounds and held Lara by the waist. Pulling her closer to his body, he planted a kiss at her lips. "Honey, we're going to have the media itching for more of the juicy news because our names would be on everyone's lips. You will be the envy of those colleagues of yours who have been chasing after me but could not get closer. They'll all watch me place the trophy in your hands. Hahaha.""Ofcourse, you're the best my dear Kyle and my daughter deserves the best. Not some dumb pauper who has wasted eight months of her life. I'm glad that it's over now." Lovelyn chipped in.Crystal had been without a word, she just sat at the couch watching all the drama. She suddenly stood up from her chair and walked towards the door. Opening it, she said. "It's the least I can do for my ex brother-in-law. Don't say I'm not being considerate because I just helped you open the door."They all began to laugh at Crystal's little drama.Princ
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Prince slid into the car, settling at the passenger's seat. Letting out a deep sigh, he lifted himself and checked out his face in the mirror. He had a black eye and his forehead was swollen. If it weren't for his shirt that shielded his bare body, he would have had more bruises. However, that didn't stop his body from aching him. Kyle had struck him a few blows at his stomach and chest. He'd admit that the guy was quite tough because the fight lingered on with no winner. If Lovelyn hadn't ended it by slapping him on the face, they would have fought for a long time until there was no energy left for them to continue.George stood outside for a while as he pondered on what Prince just said. 'What does he mean "my shattered heart". Did his wife cheat on him?' George kept thinking hard.He lifted his gaze and it fell on the women who were still stunned. The man that they were gossiping about was a rich dude. That didn't look like someone who was pretending. Clearly he has a luxury car a
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It was bustling around the New Haven hotel that afternoon as the media were seen everywhere. They had gotten a tip about certain celebrities that would be holding their engagement ceremony at the hotel that afternoon and had run to catch the real gist. Every news station wanted to carry it as no one would like to be left behind. This was something that would trend for a very long time. The best part was that it involved two big shot celebrities.Every other celebrity that was associated with the two would also be attending the ceremony. The media thought that it was crazy to have an engagement this loud. How would the wedding be then? They were there for the engagement ceremony but couldn't wait for the marriage. It was going to be another bang.The hall for the occasion had been set and beautifully adorned with the guests already waiting for the celebrants and family. With the journalists hovering around the place, they would always rush towards any car that pulled over.Soon, a lux
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Lara screamed but the music playing at the party would not let the people hear her. She took a quick glance at the ladies who were perplexed by her outburst. Running out on her colleagues, Lara rushed towards the place where every face was smiling except for hers. Some hours ago, she was over the moon but a phone call had just changed that mood.Searching among the crowd of jubilating people, Lara could not find Kyle. She scanned through the whole place but there was no sign of him. Lara was confused. She had no idea what was happening. Apart from Molly and Avery who saw her receive the distress call, no one else smelled any rat. Even the media didn't see any suspicious movement. They also had no idea when Kyle left the place.As she was searching for her fiance, many of her colleagues met her and congratulated her. She only managed to fake a smile and nodded at them.Kyle's parents didn't come to the engagement ceremony, they had other duties to attend to but promised to be there a
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Austin had a mischievous grin on his face as he approached his brother and his friend. "Wow! Look who's back to his house. I thought you're never coming back to your house again. Do you know how many times I've come to check up on you? Even your number never goes through. Well, I know that you blocked my number so it's not strange."He strode towards where the men stood and settled on the couch."So tell me bro, where the heck have you been? To be honest, I was thinking of coming to take over your estate because I thought you're never coming back again." Tilting his head, he saw the look on Prince's face and started laughing. "Hahaha, Bro, you need to see the look on your face. You know that I'm just joking. You're my only family and I wouldn't want any harm to befall you."Prince angrily clenched his fists as he glared at his wayward brother. He knew that Austin didn't really care about him. He would hurriedly come and take over all his assets if anything were to happen to him."Au
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"What! Since when? I know that he's your brother but you need to involve the police if it's serious. Maybe they can teach him a little lesson and he'll turn away from his mischievous ways." George said in a little raised voice, he was still wondering how Prince and Austin became brothers. The guy was the opposite of Prince.If he hadn't stuck around Prince for sometime, he would not have believed that the young man was Prince's younger brother."I'm just going to give him what he wants so he doesn't expose my identity to the public. You know how much I enjoy my privacy and wouldn't want the world to know who I am. I'm not ready for that kind of life. Moreover, I don't want Lara and Kyle to know yet. I'm going to deal with them until they come crawling on their knees." Prince explained the situation and George quickly got the point."I think I understand you. However, you have to do something about your brother or he'd be your bane."***Kyle had slipped out of the engagement party wit
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"What's going on here?” Lara, who had just walked into the office asked as she gaped at the men.She had also received a call from her own manager. However, she decided to stop by Mr. Chamberlain's office to find out if Kyle was at the place. And just like she thought, Kyle was at the place and looked so pale like he had seen a ghost.The news of the termination of all collaboration with Royal productions was a nightmare to him.The current project he was to embark with them was a huge one and he couldn't afford to miss it and the benefits attached to it.Lara directed her gaze at the man who was yet to say a word.“Mr. Chamberlain. What's going on?" “And you, Kyle. Why did you have to leave our engagement party without informing me?” “Lara, my career is in trouble and an engagement party is the least of my problems.” Kyle replied rudely. His manner of approach got Lara angry. However, she chose to stay calm.Maybe he was under some kind of pressure and had to snap at her."I called
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“During your engagement celebration, it came with a lot of positive energy and people spoke highly about your relationship." “Your video went viral and there were a lot of positive comments about you so a particular firm reached out to me for a couples endorsement for you two. Unfortunately, they just called earlier and took it back without any tangible reason.”"I was happy and anticipating to break the good news to you guys. However, I'm breaking the bad news now because the good news has been taken away.”Mr. Chamberlain shook his head a few times as he kept his gaze on the couple. “And it was worth millions of dollars. I'm so sorry and I feel bad that I had to break the bad news to you instead of the good news." They were staring back at him but weren't actually looking at him.They were both lost in their thoughts.Indeed, they knew about couples endorsement deals that came after it and that was one of the reasons they made their engagement party big so that everyone will be ta
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After a moment of silence, Kyle replied to her. “Let's leave this place at once. We'll go to my Manager's office and find out if he was able to get projects for us with the other movie producers.”“This is just a little setback in our lives and I'm sure we'll get past this stage." Lara nodded her head in agreement and Kyle started the car and drove off.Meanwhile, still in the woods, Prince was busy with his work as an errand guy at the movie location. He started that job because he knew that Lara and Kyle would show at the place to find out why they were cut off from Royal productions.While he was running around and making sure that things were going well, he noticed the way Avery and Molly were staring at him.Avery and Molly were still working with his production because he didn't have any reason to cut off all deals with them.It was right that they've flirted with him in the past when he was still married to Lara.Prince was Lara's personal assistant for some time. And while th
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The couple exchanged glances and Lara turned back to him and replied. “Ok, since you already know the reason we're here. I'd like to know what happened.”“Why did you give us a deal and call it off almost immediately without any reason? Is it that you were not sure at first or you made a mistake?”“We didn't make any mistakes." The man replied in a serious tone and Lara could sense arrogance in his tone.What was that supposed to mean?“I don't understand. Were you guys joking with us or what? We're both big time celebrities and you shouldn't mess with us like that." Kyle's voice was already going high but Lara patted him on the laps, calming him down.The man, on the other hand, only stared at Kyle as the latter was raising his voice and bragging about their accomplishments.Well, that was not his problem. He was only following the orders given to him by his Boss.After Kyle was done talking, the man gave them an intense glare before sighing. “Actually, it's my boss who asked me to c
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Prince caught up with them and blocked the way, stopping them from going into the car.He was there to gloat and they knew it.Kyle tried to force the door open, but Prince held tightly onto it, his eyes fixed on Kyle in a mocking smile.After a few seconds, he turned his gaze to look at Lara with a wicked smirk on his face.Furious, Lara glared back at him and was about to charge but Prince stopped her.“Oh, do you want to hit me? I dare you." He said and shot each of them a cold look.He left their car door and stared at his hands while saying casually. “I bet you guys have not heard about Karma." He shook his head a few times and continued. “Who would have thought that the great Lara Norman and Kyle Sherman would be discarded like trash. Wow! It's really unbelievable.”"If I wasn't present to witness the incident, I might not have believed it. How pathetic." “Get out of my sight now, Prince. I don't want to do something I'll regret." Lara fired at him with bloodshot eyes. She wa
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“I'm listening, Miss Norman. What do you have to say?” Mr. Clark jolted her out of her thoughts.With pursed lips, Lara sighed before she began to speak.“Mr. Clark. I'd like to know why Royal productions want to have nothing to do with us any longer. What wrong have we done?" She shook her head vigorously and continued. "I'm asking because I don't remember doing anything wrong to offend anyone. I'm good with everyone and try to mind my business which is to deliver my best on set.”“And the same goes with my fiance here." Mr. Clark was silent for a while. He stared at the couple for a while before sighing deeply.“I um.. I have no answers to your questions. The only person who can give you the answers you seek is the boss.”"You know that I'm just an assistant. I don't have much to say when the boss has spoken. I'm only his employee.”“Then set up a meeting with us and your Boss. We'd like to know what the problem is. What wrong have we done to him?” Lara replied and Kyle agreed wit
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Prince could not help but laugh at her.For someone whose career was at the verge of collapsing, she sure has some nerves.Lara wants to put him off his job when hers was slipping away from her.Prince turned his face around and returned his gaze back to Lara before asking.“Are you talking to me?" “No, I'm talking to that tree over there." Lara pointed to a tall tree behind Prince but the latter did not budge.He only smiled, raised both of his shoulders up and replied nonchalantly. "Ok, keep talking to it then. I'm sure it'll give you a response soon.”Prince began to walk away but Lara hurriedly blocked his path again. “Are you making a fool of me? Tell me what you're doing here, Prince." Lara's interference was getting Prince pissed off but he chose to keep calm."Look, Prince. You have to leave this place at once. Like my fiance just told you, you're not allowed to work here.” Kyle added.Prince looked at the couple before him and smiled for a while before saying to them. “You
Chapter 19
Kyle ignored her and started the car. When he drove out of Royal productions studio, he turned briefly to Lara and inquired.“Where are we going?" "We're going to the movie location in the woods. Maybe we'd have the chance to talk to Mr. Clark and hear what he has to say.”Mr. Clark is one of the assistant producers and they have worked together all this time.There were two assistant producers and the other one was not on set with them.Most of the crew members of Royal productions know their Boss personally. However, they've been asked not to say anything about him or post his pictures online.Lara gave him the address of the movie location and they drove off.While on their way, Kyle felt bad about what he had earlier said to her and decided to apologize.“Lara, umm. I'm sorry about how I spoke to you earlier. I should not have said all those things to you." “And, I should not have left you to fight with the receptionist, especially because you're pregnant. We can't afford to los
Chapter 18
The receptionist could not swallow the physical abuse from Lara so she had to retaliate.With her hands balled into fists, Asha bit her lips and punched Lara really hard and the duo ended up fighting each other.Kyle just stood aside and watched the fight. He didn't even attempt to separate the girls.He believed that Asha, the receptionist deserved to be beaten up for calling Lara a crazy person.The fight lingered on and when Kyle saw that Lara was being defeated, he decided to separate them.“That's enough, Lara. Just leave her alone and save your reputation. I know that you can beat her. However, it's not worth it because you have a lot to lose." Kyle was trying to make Lara feel better with the words.He knew that if he left them to continue fighting, Lara would be severely dealt with by Asha.The receptionist looked fragile but was a lion in the fight.She almost tore Lara's hair apart if not for the timely intervention of Kyle.As he pulled his fiance out of the fight, Kyle loo
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Prince laughed at her for a while before replying to her. "Please, give me some credits. I was never begging you for money when we were married, was I?" “Being your P.A, I earned all the money you paid me because I worked for it. Moreover, you were the one who asked me to quit my job at the restaurant to work for you. It was not like I've ever begged you for money.”Prince sighed and continued. “Well, that's not the reason I called you at this time." “So why have you called me?" “I just wanted to check up on you. I needed to be sure that you haven't ended up in the hospital. I mean, with all the news about you guys in the media, someone in your shoes might end up in the hospital.”“Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you. As you can see and hear, I'm hale and hearty and won't be ending up in the hospital anytime soon if that's what you're expecting." “If you've called to gloat, then think again because I'm not going to give you any reason to laugh at me." Lara angrily blurted out.“And
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It was already late when Lara and Kyle finally decided to go home. They had to be sure that the media group was no longer in sight before they came out.Lara called Derrick, her driver, to come and pick her up.While they waited for her driver, Lara sat with Kyle in his car and the duo were deep in their thoughts.Kyle was wondering what was really going on. After an awkward moment of silence between the couple, he turned to Lara and said to her. “Honey, I think you should stay away from going through social media for now. I'm sure you'd be more pissed at the comments. I don't want you to get yourself walked up because of what happened today. And you know how people can reach a conclusion without knowing what was going on." “First thing tomorrow morning, I'll come over to your place to pick you up. We'll be going to Royal productions to find out what's going on." “And we could also go to Evergreen World corporation to ask them a few questions.”If it weren't for the media, the coup
