"Lies run sprints, but the truth runs marathons. The truth will win this marathon in court." - Michael Jackson
(Unedited)
[Rafael POV]
I was stunned to see her, looking magnificient in her black lacy dress showcasing her long creamy legs I've been dreaming every night. She never look like she gotten birth of any child. I thought my eyes just popped out of their socket. I felt that all too familiar electricrifying sensations rushing through my blood just seeing her again. How much I ache to hold her again.
Our eyes was locked, and for a brief moment, I thought I saw love, longing, and pain in her eyes. But it was soon concealed with no emotions. She was staring at me impassively. I showed no emotion, but deep within me I'm fighting the temptation to crushed her in my chest and smell her natural scent that always drive me to madness.
"Where is my son?" her snappy tone dragged me out of my trance. Her cerulean eyes was staring at me furiously. Then it dawned on me what she just said. She was claiming him as her own making my temper flared up rapidly.
"He is my son, too!" I mimicked her tone and meet her furious eyes.
"I carried him in my womb for 9 months, while you enjoyed your life in the arms of another woman! How dare you take him away from me? I have all the right to take responsibility of him. I may not give him the luxury you can give, but I can definitely give him a future even if I need to work my ass off hard, and I will not stop until he will grow up to be a good man with a good future!" she cried out, with her eyes glistening. I was watching as she huffed. She looks like she's ready to kill. I stood my ground and ignored her claim.
"Do you think you can give him a good future? You work in a cafe, and I bet your salary can only cover his food? How do you think you can give him a good future?" I mocked sarcastically. She was taken aback, but she composed herself swiftly.
"If I need to sell my body to give him everything he needs, I will!" her eyes was scorching shooting at me scornfully, with her hands clenching. When her words sunk in my head, I wanted to strangle her. The thought of someone touching her made my temper gone wild. In an instant I was pinning her against the wall.
"You can sell yourself to others, but you can't give me yourself. What does the others can give that I can't give? or that Kevin? I can pay you how much, name your price just be my whore!!" I spit out acidly. The last word made her stop squirming, then she looked at me in disgust, her eyes flickered pain and bitterness, but she quickly concealed it. She pushed me hard and I stumble backwards. I regretted saying the last words. I wanted to hit myself for impulsively calling her that, even if she hurt me so much, I knew she doesn't deserves it. No woman ever deserved to be called a whore.
She wipe the tears from her eyes and shortly she concealed the sadness and pain that I just saw in her cerulean eyes, making me feel remorseful.
"I guess, I'm just a whore to you," she said softly biting her bottom lip.
I froze.
She looked away and paused as she calmed herself.
"I'm sorry—" I murmured, but she raise her hand to stop me. She looked so hurt, but she gained her composure back.
"I just want my son back," she stated casually. Her eyes was threatening to cry, but she's trying to hold it back.
I remember the day she left. The time she didn't give me a clear reason why she has to leave me? I was hurt and there's no time I didn't cry. I wanted her to feel the pain too, just like what she inflicted it to me when she left me.
"No! You can hire a lawyer if you want his custody. I will meet you at the court!" I said decisively, looking away but her eyes.
"You know I can't afford to hire a lawyer you bastard!" she yelled, and charged me, her fist lunged on my chest, as she cried. I grab both of her hands, and pulled her away.
"Then leave him to me. You can live your life like normal. You and Kevin can start your own family. Raffy will still acknowledge you as his mom, that I will not take away from him," I suggest coldly.
She steps back, pulled her hands back and drop it to her sides, then she was stared at me in disbelief.
"You know that Raffy needs a mother?" she sneered bitterly.
"I'm engaged, and she could be a good mother to him," I replied nonchalantly. I saw a glint of hurt in her eyes but it vanished quickly.
"You can't just replace me with just another woman, like a toy... You jerk! I hate you Rafael Valiente! I despise the day I have let myself fall for you, asshole!" she screamed hysterically. I called the security and not later they came in, and grab her.
"Get your hands off me, assholes!" she squirmed hysterically, screaming and cursing at me. When the security let go of her. She shot me one more vindictive look and stormed out of the door.
I wave off the securities to leave and left closing the door. I plopped down on my chair exhaustedly and I don't know if I should be happy for not melting in her presence and for seeing her hurt, but I know deep within me I was crushing. I wanted to cry but no tears. I could still see her blazing eyes staring at me.
FUCK!! I called her whore? She's right. I am nothing but a jerk.
I remember the envelop. With a heavy heart I opened it and saw all the photos of me and Kristela, nude and doing nasty things. I don't remember taking her. Definitely the photos was edited. I'm sure about this.
DAMN!
I called Tristan. Bill wasn't reliable these days. I think he's getting rusty maybe of his age.
"Yes, Mr. Valiente."
"I want you to find out who took this photo, and who sent it to Bella. I will send you all the photos now." I demanded coldly. My heart was racing rapidly with anger. She has all the right to leave, and get angry, but at least she should have clarify it to me first than jumping into conclusion.
After I talked to Tristan I hurriedly walked out of my office thinking to catch her before she leaves. I was tapping my foot waiting for the elevator to stop. Just as soon as the elavator door open, I ran to the exit door and I saw her standing outside looking zoned out. I walked out the exit door ignoring the guard and was about to walk closer to her when a guy I acknowledge, Daniel Costa approached her. I stopped and the two soon walk away. I grip my fingers tight clenching my jaws as I watch their back disappeared into the throng of walkers.
What had I done wrong? I had made it all worst. Now she's completely slipping away.
-----{{@}}-----
[Clara Bell POV]
I was so hurt. I was walking out the building with nowhere to go. I felt so empty, hurt, and the fact that he just turned worst made me feel so remorseful.
What had I done to you Rafael?
I was shaking when I walked out the exit door. I ignored all the people looking at me curiously, confused. I felt like I'm walking in the clouds with no emotions. Then all of a sudden a voice of an excited man approaching me.
"Clara Bell? Is that you?" he asked excitedly. I remember him as Daniel Costa.
"Hi!" I said shyly. I'm glad he appeared. I would need a company to relax myself. I'm thoroughly exhausted and I need a diversion.
"It was nice seeing you here pretty. I never thought I would see you here in New York!" he exclaimed happily.
"Me too." I replied briefly.
"Would you like to have lunch with me?" he asked hopeful. Just then my tummy growled.
"Sure," I replied glibly. I looked around when I felt like someone is watching me, but I saw no one. Just people passing by, here and there.
----{{@}}----
[Rafael POV]
After I got back to my office I sat on my chair and tried to focused back on my work. But her face keep popping in my head. I missed her so much. This things had gone further. I need her as much as my child needed her. But I need to find a way how to make her succumb to me.
I still love her. No matter what I do, she's the pieces that fits in the hole in my heart.
Thinking over the past years, fucking this girls making me feel disgusted of myself. I called her a whore but I should be the whore. I wanted her. Without her I am a mess and that is reality. Mom and Dad never talked to me after giving up on her.
I need to find out who send this photo to her. I have a feeling Kristela did it and I will make sure to destroy her life and career. The hell they pay whoever is behind this.
I need to break off with Katherine too. I remember I proposed to her before she left. It's going to be hard but it had to rectify all this wrong things I had done.
-----{{@}}----
[Clara Bell POV]
I was lying on my bed trying to get more sleep but it seems sleep is elusive. My head was still occupied with the thoughts of Rafael and my son. I missed Raffy. I wanted to see him. I wanted to beg him to at least let me see him but when he told me he will replace me with another girl, everything just went a blur. I was so furious that I didn't even think whatever lashing words I threw on him. I glanced on the clock, it was 10 already.
I turned again. I closed my eyes to try to fall asleep when my phone vibrated. I grab the phone on my side table and connected it without bothering to look.
"Hello." I said lazily.
"Bella!" Rafael's voice rang in my speaker. I was loss at words. I never thought he will call me after that heated argument. After I broke down, after he called me a whore.
"Rafael?" I murmured softly after a long silence.
My heart suddenly races. "Yes ... I'm sorry. Did I wake you up?" he trailed off, with his sweet, husky voice.
I felt the tears brimming in my eyes, as the thought of him slipping away from me. I felt all the more vulnerable. I wish he's here and I could hold him, but he wasn't the man I love. He's heartless, and he called me a whore.
"No. I can't sleep," I replied truthfully, blinking the tears back. No matter how I wanted to deny him, he's still Raffy's father.
"What happened to us?" he said in a painful tone. Suddenly, all my resolves crumbled to the ground. It feels like his heart were fused to mine.
"I'm sorry. I was too emotional, and my head and heart can't take it that I had to leave," I choked out. I can't contain it anymore. I felt like I needed to tell him. I need to take it out, it's weight in my chest is too heavy, I needed to lift it out.
"I didn't meant to call you a whore. You were never one to me. You will always be my Bella, my love. I'm sorry, I was too impulsive," he apologize and I felt the sincerity, I felt that he really mean it. I swallowed hard and nodded like he can see me. I felt choking from all the emotions now filling my heart. "I will find the person who did this and make him pay! The photos were edited, Mio Amore. It wasn't me. And I will prove it to you!" he promised intently, I could hear the determination in his tone.
His words had melted the last ounce of resistance left in me.
"I missed you, Rafael!" I blurted out as I cried. I can't take it anymore.
"I missed you so much, Bella! I can come and pick you up, Mio Amore. I wanted to hold you. I want you back," he admitted emotionally. I could hear him breathing harshly. I could feel the strong emotions radiating off from the line.
I wipe the tears away from my eyes with the back of my hand. "You fool! Enna will be awaken and thought I'm escaping again," I chuckled softly, all the while sniffing.
"Please..." he begged.
"Can I just see you tomorrow with Raffy. Please kiss him for me," I said softly, feeling contented and happy, but still there's a part of me, nagging me to let him gain my heart back.
"I will. Sleep then, Mio Amore. I'll see you first thing in the morning," he promised. The tension that was too think a moment ago is now gone.
"Rafael," I called before he hangs up. I need to clear things with him. What Am I thinking to just cave in like that? I love him too much, but I needed to give myself some respect after all these pains.
"Yes," he answered shortly.
"Can we just settle this feud for the sake of Raffy? I know you're getting married, and—"
"I'm cancelling the engagement," he interrupted before I could finish my words.
"No, please, listen ..." I beg him, I could feel his temper again, but he needed to know my point here. "After all what happened to us, I think we need to re evaluate our feelings for each other. Definitely, we lack trust with each other, and we are not both open to each other,"
"I'm sorry, I know, I jumped into conclusion, whenever I see a man fluttering around you, I can't help to feel jealous, and I admit, I'm impulsive. I should have talk to you when I came to see you in Texas, instead I left like a chicken. I was so jealous when I saw you with that guy, Kevin," he confessed, he sounded broken.
I was surprised to know that he came to see me, and at the same time, of course he can, anytime if he wants to. I suppressed the irritation growing in my chest. This is the time to confessed everything to him. To clear everything so we can stop this, for Raffy, my son.
"Kevin and I were just friends. He treated me as his sister," I explained briefly.
"I'm sorry," he apologized sincerely.
"Please, don't break the engagement, I think you and Katherine will work out together," I said, ignoring the twisting pain in my heart.
"I don't love her. I didn't even remember proposing to her, I was so hurt, mad, and frustrated. I felt like I'm a failure, I have no reason to live, at that moment, all I need is someone to take care of Raffy and be her mother while you're ..." he paused, I could feel the pain he's carrying and I felt the tears starting to well up under my eyelids.
"I'll clear this mess and find out who did this, then let me win you back, please ... I'm breaking the engagement, I can't marry her, Bella. I can't marry her ..." he choked out, and I swallowed the lump that stuck at the back of my throat.
"Let's start over. Let me court you again, and live together with Raffy. He needs his real mother, I need you. I can't function well without you," he sniffed. That's when I realized he was crying. "When you left me, I felt like I couldn't think straight anymore. I felt numb, I felt like a walking robot, no feelings, nothing. You took all that away from me when you left me. I felt no reason to live, I felt dead inside."
"Rafael," I choked out, swallowing thickly. I felt the same. It was Raffy who motivates me to function.
"I'll see you in the morning," I said, not knowing what to say. "Good night, Rafael," I murmured and closed my eyes.
"Good night, mi amor. Keep in mind that I always love you," then the line ended.
I fell asleep with all the pain gone, forgetting everything that just had happened between us. Tomorrow, will be a new chapter between us.
----{{@}}---
[Rafael POV]
I ended the call when I heard nothing on the other line thinking she must have fallen asleep and kissed my son on his forehead. "Mommy will come see us tomorrow, son." I smiled, "I'm sorry for ruining this family, but I will promise that I will not stop until our family will be whole. I will not stop until I win your mom's heart again, and her trust, and then we all be happy again," I murmured before leaving his room, and walked across mybedroom where the master bedroom is.
I put my phone on the bedside table and walked to the other adjacent room which is a closet room for Bella. Those clothes in my penthouse, I had it move in here. I can't wait for tomorrow to come see her. I missed her terribly. I closed the door and headed to my bed. Shortly, sleep engulfed me.
"Dada.." a little voice woke me up, pulling the covers off me. I pulled him up and I saw Neria, standing on the doorway. She is our babysitter, and she's looking apologetically at me.
"It's ok, Neria. I'll bring him with me downstairs shortly." I smiled making the sitter looking stunned and surprised. I ignore her, and just tickled Raffy on his sides. He squirmed out of my hold, and giggled loudly.
Then I sang his favorite song.
Round, around the garden
Just like a teddy bear,
one step, two step, (as I trailed my fingers slowly up to his underarm)
and tickle under there... and tickled his underarm. He was laughing really hard, and kept on kicking me out of my hold.
"Ok, time to get up and have breakfast. Daddy has to go pick up, mommy." I exclaimed and crawled out of the bed picking Raffy up in my arms, and I walked down the grand stairs to the kitchen. I gave Raffy to Neria, and had my coffee quickly.
"I will be picking Bella today, Raffy's mom, and we will be back at lunch," I said to Neria and my cook who was having their coffee as well. I didn't mind them sharing the kitchen. They are looking at me incredulously. I know, my excitement was too obvious.
I left them looking flabbergasted and headed back to my room and got ready. The conversation we had and Bella last night was enough to take all the pain away. She didn't promised me anything, but I will not stop until I win her heart again. She's only my happiness, with my son.
----{{@}}----
[Clara Bell POV]
"Bell....Bell...." Enna's snappy voice rang in my ears. My eyes flew open to see Enna's hovering over me.
"You have a visitor, missy!" she grinned teasingly, but her eyes held disapproval.
"What time is it?" I asked ignoring her teasing tone.
"It's 10 in the morning." she replied nonchalantly glancing on the bedside table clock.
"What visitor?" I asked hoarsely.
"Rafael Valiente, does he ring a bell?" she smirked. When everything registered in my head, I scrambled out of my bed not caring I'm only wearing a silk cream sleeping gown barely covered my thigh, and ran out of my room to the living room.
"Don't you think you're giving up too quickly?" I heard her said, but I was too excited to see him.
"Rafael? What are you doing here?" I asked incredulously, until I realized that he said last night he will come to see me, and I agreed.
"Morning, mio amore!" he grinned with his eyes skimming my body up and down. When I realized I was just wearing a thin fabric, with no bra, I felt the blush rushed over my cheeks to the tip of my hair. I instinctively crosses my hands over my breast, hoping to cover up a part of it.
Our eyes locked, I could see longing, love hurt, sadness in his eyes, mixed emotions that mirrored mine. We were too focused at looking at each other that we didn't realized Enna already sneaked back to her room, leaving us two alone.
Rafael walked closer to me. "You still look beautiful even if you just rolled out of the bed," he smiled, but his eyes filled with wickedness. He pulled me to his chest possessively, and kissed the top of my head tenderly, I felt all his emotions. I automatically wrapped my hands around his waist. Everything that I felt for him rushed back, and I don't want to end it here. I want him back, but Enna was right, it's too early. I need my dignity back.
"I missed you, mio Amore!" he whispered. I looked up to meet his eyes.
"I missed you always, Rafael." I murmured. Everything that happened between us just vanished into thin air, and all that matters is the feeling we both felt. My heart was hammering loudly. I was holding him so tight, that I'm afraid he will disappear forever. Just for now, I want to quench this thirst I'm feeling right now. I missed him so much, and I don't want to be hypocrite, just for this moment. I just want to hug him, feel him that he's actually here with me.
He kissed me quickly. "I wanted to take you here, but our son was waiting for you!" he grinned making me flustered. I pulled myself away almost smacking my head.
"You know you can't until you gained my heart back," I reminded him, and the smile in his face faded.
"I know," he nodded, "but I won't give up." He smiled then caressed my cheeks.
"I will go get ready then. Do you need anything to drink while waiting?" I asked.
"No. I'm fine," he replied, and motioned me to go.
He went back to the couch and sit, while I turned on my heel back to my room and got ready.
After like 30 minutes, I'm all ready, excited to see Raffy. I told Enna that I'm going to see Raffy, and she agreed wishing me good luck. I smiled. Walking to where Rafael was standing, he wrap his hand around my waist and led me to the elevator.
"You look ravishing!" he whispered to my ear. His hot breath was giving me goosebumps all over my body, sending shivers down my spine, that were all too familiar.
We look like a newly wed couple. He was holding my waist and I was leaning my head against his chest. He was kissing my head once in a while. He always does it and it made me feel special.
What happened to the courting you, Bella? A part of my brain mocked.
I didn't forget that. He still have to court me, I shot back.
After a long journey, we finally reached his place. I was so excited to see my son that I didn't noticed the beautiful view. He parked the car in the driveway and gave the keys to a burly guy, I thought must be the valet. Then he led me to the entrance porch of his house into the door. He led me to a balcony, where two girls attending Raffy, and another tall girl. When she turned, I recognized her his secretary, Katherine. I scoffed.
"Babe, you're back!" she exclaimed happily and shot me a disgusted look. Rafael was too surprised not noticing how she look at me.
"What are you doing here?" Rafael asked coldly, not hiding his displeasure.
"I am your Fiancee, Of course, I want to see you? Can't I?" she smirked sarcastically. "And what is this whore doing here?" she asked as she sent me a scowl. Rafael's eyes tuned into slits, and was about to talk, but was stopped when he heard my snide remarked, a bit louder than I wanted it to be.
"So Finally, your scheme had worked out. That's why you came to see Kevin and pay him to look after me, and you were not even satisfied, you paid him to marry me?" I sneered coldly.
Rafael looked at her in disbelief. She looked startled, as she snapped her eyes to Rafael who was now staring at her in disgust, his ominous eyes spitting fire. Anger radiating off him, I even steps back in fear.
"So you know where she is, all the while you were pretending?" Rafael steely tone roared, and frightened her. "Why Katherine? Why did you do this?" he growled clenching his fist tightly. I quickly close our gap and grab his hand before he hurt her. Katherine's eyes darkened in anger and hatred while staring at me.
"Because she ruined us and Angelo!" she yelled gruffly pointing his finger on me.
----{{@}}----
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