CHAPTER ONE
The loud ding from the oven's timer called for the attention of the young woman still arranging the gift baskets scattered all over the kitchen table, as she walked hastily towards the oven, opening its door to reveal the freshly baked cake. Removing the cake from the baking pan, she set out to decorating it for the party, making sure to stick with the superhero theme her kids had picked. As she got busy in the decoration, her ears picked up on the little footsteps running noisily towards the kitchen, causing an exhausted sigh to fall from her lips.
"Mummy, is daddy going to be available for my birthday dinner?" One of the toddlers asked, tugging at the hem his mother's dress.
"It's not just your birthday, stupid." The other boy blurted out as he struggled to take a seat on his chair.
"Hey!! Don't say mean things to your brother." The mother scolded, staring sternly at Alex, the boy who had uttered the mean phrase.
"But daddy say it to you all the time." His defense sounded as hurting as much as it sounded justified, causing her to take a few seconds to balance her emotions.
"And are you daddy's twin or Ethan's?" She asked softly, staring lovingly at the young lad across from her.
"Ethan's." He whispered.
"Then that settles it. You don't say mean words to anybody, not even if you hear daddy say them." She admonished with a comforting smile as she offered both boys a piece of the already baked cookies still laying naked on the kitchen table.
"Okay, mum. I'm sorry." Alex said, reaching for his piece.
"The apology should be directed at your brother and not me, darling."
"I'm sorry, Ethan."
"It's okay." Ethan smiled, walking towards his brother and sitting close to him.
"Now, what do we do next?" A huge smile was plastered across her face as she slowly walked towards them with an outstretched arm.
"Big - hugs and kisses." They all giggled unanimously, embracing and kissing each other.
After about a minute of loud giggling, she broke from the hug and stared down at both of them, "And about your question, sweetheart, you know daddy has a huge company and a lot of work to attend to, so he might not be able to make it."
"But this is the big five, mum. You said it was important to celebrate this because dad must definitely be a part of this." Ethan was articulate and that was one of the many things she was proud for about her boys; they were smart and always eager to learn.
"I'm sorry, my darlings. These things are also beyond daddy's control but guess what daddy got you guys as presents?" She tried sounding as happy as she possibly could but deep down she knew talking about him was something she hated the most.
"Another vacation?" Alex asked, visibly uninterested in yet another all expense paid vacation trip of shopping and eating.
"No, my darlings. Remember how you boys always fantasize about seeing a rocket ship in person?"
"Yes." The excited tension could be felt in their faces as they whispered causing their mother to let out a light laugh.
"Well, this year is the year when you finally get to have your dream fulfilled."
"Yes!!" They half yelled, excitedly jumping down from their chairs as she watched on with a forced smile.
She hadn't quite recovered from the expenses of the vacation and now she is faced with this new expense. To everyone else, she was married to the heir of a conglomerate, a multi-billionaire and as such, money problems should not even exist in her dictionary. This was, however, very far from the truth and unfortunately, only Sophia, herself, knew this.
"What about grandma and grandpa?" Alex asked after their excitement died down.
"They should have been here by now, sweethearts." She said slowly, looking out through the window at the bright morning which was quickly transcending into a hot sunny afternoon, "Let me just give them a call to know what happened." She added almost immediately.
"Okay and tell them to buy us something sweet from Target." Ethan smiled mischievously.
"Aye Aye Captain. Go get ready before your friends get here."
After a few failed attempts at reaching the mobile phones of both her mother and father in-law, Sophia decided to call the landline instead, but that was met with the answering machine instead.
"Good afternoon mum and dad. I was just calling to check in with you both. Alex and Ethan have been waiting for you both for a while and I must admit they are both pretty excited about turning five years old. Guests would soon be arriving and we are still expecting you, the twins especially. Please call me back."
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Hours into the birthday party, Sophia, who had managed to keep her kids distracted from the fact that both their grandparents and father were absent from the celebration, met with parents of the little invited guests, thanking them for honoring the invitation. Although she felt embarrassed over the fact that she was consistently giving excuses for her husband's absence for five years now, she still held her strong font, determined to hold it together for the sake of her kids.
"It seems your husband is also too busy to attend this year's celebration." Anna, the mother to one of the twins' classmates said, giving little to no effort in masking the sarcasm that laced her voice.
"Yeah. You know how demanding running a conglomerate of companies can become..." She said softly, "but wait, I don't think you do."
Anna knew too well that remark wasn't as pleasant as it was said, but before she could respond, "Daddy!!" Alex's voice came out, shocking, not just her, but, the parents who were standing close to Sophia."What!?" Sophia muttered under her breath, turning swiftly in the direction of running Ethan, who had now joined in Alex's excitement.
"You made it!!" Ethan squeaked, leaping excitedly.
"Congratulations buddy. Happy birthday." The voice of the man, whose kids were celebrating a birthday, came out, cold and devoid of any feeling of fatherly excitement, as he roughly ran his fingers through the twins' hair.
"Thanks dad." They both chorused with wide smiles plastered across their faces as their little hearts lit up with happiness over the fact that their father finally attended their birthday party.
"You are what now? Four?"
"We turned four last year." Alex chuckled.
"You both are now big boys. Go enjoy your party while I talk to your mother about something." He said, looking straight at Sophia who now stood quietly behind them (the twins) with a surprised gaze directed at her husband.
"Thank you for the birthday gift daddy. It was the best one ever." Ethan chipped in, as they were about running away from his presence.
"Better than even last year's vacation." Alex squeaked excitedly.
"What are you guys talking about?" His eyebrows were raised in a questioning manner, but still maintaining the stern gaze he had towards Sophia."Boys, why don't you give daddy some space to breath. He just got back from work and he's very tired as well. You should go hang out with your friends so they don't get bored. Daddy's not leaving anytime soon." Sophia said, stooping down to meet with their eye levels, kissing their cheeks lovingly.
"Okay, mum." They said, running off towards the party and their friends.
"I actually am leaving soon, though. You shouldn't have told them that lie." He uttered immediately he realized they were out of earshot.
"No, you are not. You are not going anywhere." She half yelled, but immediately taking her tone down as she looked around with a smile to make sure no one was staring at them.
"And why do you think I can't?" He fired back, not really concerned about the attention from the strangers in his garden.
"Because today is the fifth birthday of the twin boys you and I had." The words fell through her clenched teeth, as she still struggled to hold the smile she felt she needed to have for the guests not to assume the truth she desperately wanted to hide.
"So?"
"So?" At this point, she couldn't hold back the scream as her voice rang through the party, but fortunately for her, the music was also loud enough to keep everyone else distracted.
"Yes, so what does today being their birthday have to do with me leaving for work matters."
"Because you are their fucking father, Damien!!" Caution has already been thrown to the wind and Sophia's voice was at pitch level without a care in the world.
"And am I denying their paternity?"
"That's exactly what you are fucking doing, or you don't know?"
"What do you want from me, Anna?" He half yelled, covering the distance between them as his hot breath crashed against her face which stared up at him.
"Be here. Be involved in your kids' fucking life. Is that too fucking much to ask?" She asked, her voice a little lower now as she poked at his chest with her index finger.
"Well, it is a good thing you said this because right now I want to be fully involved in both my sons' lives without having to deal with seeing your face."
"And what is that supposed to mean?" She asked after a minute of silence, probably trying to figure out the meaning of what she just heard.
"This." He said, pulling her hand forcefully as he tucked in an open envelope in her palm.
"What the fuck is this?"
"I know how stupid you can be but I am pretty sure you haven't lost your ability to read." He continued standing in her face that a passerby or someone just observing from a distance would assume they were two really in love couples sharing an intimate moment during their twins' birthday party.
"You are taking custody of the children?" She whispered after reading through the content of the already signed divorce papers.
"I plan on staying far away from you as possible." He said plainly.
"With my children? What the fuck are you saying?" At this point, her voice was failing her and as much as she wanted to yell at him, her voice could only come out as a whisper.
"This divorce shouldn't even come as a surprise to you. It has just dragged on because I took pity on your sorry ass and decided to save you from the clutches of your pitiful state." He spat out, unmoved by the tears that were slowly walking down her cheeks.
"Point of correction, Damien. I am not in any way upset about the fact that I'm finally free from the clutches of this hell y'all refer to as a so-called marriage. I am more than happy about this divorce, finally!!" She said wiping off the tear string from her face.
"Then what is the fucking problem, Sophia?"
"The fucking problem is with you wanting to have custody of my babies; the very ones you didn't want anything to do with ever since their conception till date."
"And from now henceforth, I am going to be the only one parent they would know and love. I am going to fill a bigger part of their life that they would forget you ever existed in the first place - just like I wish for day in and day out."
"You are a devil, Damien." She whispered under her breath.
"Don't tell me you are just realizing that, baby girl." He smiled, tucking the lonely strands of hair on her face behind her ears before finding his way out of the garden and into the house to probably leave for his "work".
How exactly did she get to this point in her life, you asked? Being wife to a monster like Damien?
Well, this isn't one of those tales where the husband was once a charming angel that turned unexpectedly evil towards his wife and kids, so please wipe those thoughts from your mind as we journey back to the very beginning of Sophia's nightmares.