Her Precious Baby

He expected Angeline to blame and scold him instead of opening up like this. It was as if she had numbed herself to her fate.

The only thing more dangerous than a fight in a relationship was a cold shoulder, which was proof of her increasing disregard for him.

Evander felt empty in the stomach at that thought. He reached out and grabbed Angeline’s arm.

“Why did we have to break up?” he asked, gritting his teeth in dismay.

“Was I not clear enough?”

“I want the real reason.” Evander gazed down at her, his voice husky. “Why did you react that way when you saw the Heart of the Ocean I gifted you? What are you hiding from me?”

He only realized the shift in Angeline’s emotional state after he calmed down. Though he was unclear of the reason, he surmised upon further thought that it must have been due to the necklace.

“Is that important?”

Angeline’s heart skipped a beat at Evander’s words. She turned around to face him while feigning a calm she did not feel.

“Everybody has their secrets, Mr. Golding. That must be why you won’t tell me who Floretta’s real mother is.”

Initially prodding Evander to see if she could discover something, she did not expect such a hostile reaction from him.

“You are becoming bold, Angeline!”

“Forget I ever asked.”

Angeline scoffed and again struggled to free herself of Evander before turning around to leave abruptly.

her heart

hiding from me? Could he, instead of the traffickers, have stolen the newborn baby? If that’s the case, Evander must have been planning this charade and knew that I would only hate

Angeline’s arms grew weak. Not daring to ruminate further, she

when the bell in the kindergarten rang a long time ago, but Floretta remained in

the teachers called for every child to produce an artwork to be presented

Evander to appear together in the parent-teacher conference, Floretta honored the occasion by

open to admit a group of boys who

of the boys, chubbier than the rest, arrived before

gesture, her face flushed red with

you touch my things, Mark?

boy’s meaty hands shoved Floretta away and perused the sketchbook with

is a drawing of your family!

“You’re lying!”

feet angrily. Her features contorted

must have said those things in a fit of embarrassed anger because my

Aunt Olivine,” Mark growled as he pushed her again and jabbed a menacing finger. “Your mother

withstand the oppression of his bulk, Floretta fell onto the ground. She was so frightened at the mention of

she exclaimed indignantly while rubbing her eyes. “I

Look at how good at lying Floretta is!

with his friends, began to point and laugh

about? My mother is

despite

they laughed all the

is a movie star! How could she

been binge-watching ‘The Journey,’ and she loves Angeline in it. She’s