The moment Aurora arrived at the hotel she was staying in, Celestine ushered her in with a hug and a message from her close friend.
"Dariel wants to see you."
Her eyebrows shot up. Did she just hear her mention Dariel Dax?
Aurora did not know what to think or make of things. It had been years since they last contacted each other, simply because he had advised her not to pursue Axel and find love but she refused.
Back then she saw it as a grand opportunity to be able to marry the man she loved, arranged or not but when things went sour, Aurora couldn't bring herself to run to him and tell him the truth.
Especially not after a pregnancy was in tow.
She massaged the space between her brows. Just the name alone sent shivers running down her spine as his voice and warning replayed in her mind.
"He didn't abandon you, Rora," Celestine chirped when she noticed how uncomfortable Aurora became. "He reached out but then, you…" she bit her lower lip, pondering on how to best relay this message without coming off as bad.
"You said not to disclose your location under any circumstance. As such I was forced to lie to him. He's been concerned."
She had a gentle smile that made her eyes sparkle. Gently placing a hand on her cousin's shoulder, she shook her head. "I am not faulting you, Celes. Thanks for looking out for me. It's just…"
She pulled away, slowly making her way to the window of the suite's parlour.
"It's been so long," she said, turning her head to her cousin. "I don't know if I can face you."
At once, Celestine's eyes lit up. "He knew you'd say that. He already got the information that you were around in town and called me. All Dariel wants, is to see you. Past aside, he misses you."
Aurora's eyes darted about, her left hand wrapped in front of her as she supported her right hand touching her chin.
"It'll be hard but fine. I accept."
Her smile had barely touched her lips when the sound of rushing feet pulled her attention to the direction.
"Mummy!"
"Mum! You're back!"
Instinctively, she called out to them, lowering down to pull them into a hug. "My loves."
Celestine's eyes followed them, a playful smile adorning her lips as she placed both hands on her hips. "You little… I thought you were sleeping."
"We were," Aqua boldly stated.
"Then?"
"We were sleeping but decided to wait for you and mummy to finish speaking before we woke up," Aura chimed in with pride.
Her eyes sparkled as though she had done the best act of consideration in the world as she regarded her mother, waiting for a pat.
At this time, Aurora could not help but burst into a peak of laughter.
Did her kids just say that?
No way in hell were they sleeping then. Watching their mother's laughter, Aura and Aqua's facial expressions changed.
Did they do something wrong?
"There you go. You never slept," Celestine explained, easing their confusion.
"B–but we did close our eyes for an hour exactly," Aqua defended.
The more they spoke, the more Aurora found it hard to hold in her laughter.
"Kids," she muttered, shaking her head. "Come, momma has something for you."
"Yay!!"
Their cheers and jubilation made Celestine cringe a bit. When she locked her gaze with Aurora, some smiled, happy to see her cousin looking fine.
"Please inform him. I'd like to discuss something with him as well."
"Definitely."
*********
~Dream's Penthouse~
Ever since she got the news of Aurora's return, Dream had been restless.
She wondered how often Axel had visited her. What were their discussions about and how well she could remove her opposition?
Unable to stand the sight of her family's maids angering her, she drove off to her penthouse for the time being.
Taking a swig from her glass of wine, Dream picked up the remote control to her television and switched it on.
"I hope the stations are showing something sensible." She hated boring talks or movies and wanted something with much action.
After scrolling through the stations and finding nothing worth of interest, she immediately connected her Netflix and searched for a series.
"Ah, that's better. I guess I can.."
Ring! Ring!
The sound of her ringtone disrupted her concentration, a dissatisfied frown on her face.
"Oh, B.D.," Dream muttered. It was just the right distraction she needed.
Sliding on the green icon, dream connected the call, placing it on speaker. "What news have you?"
"It gets better, Ms. Reign," Black Dragon responded with a slight glee in his tone.
"How so?"
Her interest was piqued. She hoped the news she'd get would be something important on how to destroy the young lady.
Little did she know it was going to destroy her instead.
"It turned out that Aurora was pregnant before leaving the city. She's back with her twins."
Dream's world turned upside down. Her heartbeat sped up, her thoughts running wild while her chest rose and fell.
When Dream gave the order to find out everything about Aurora, she was not hoping to be told her nemesis was back with twins.
Aurora's very existence threatened her stand with Axel. Now he had kids with her?
"No way," she muttered, her right hand flying to her chest to help control her breathing.
"That is the truth. I have the pictures staring at me as we speak. Their names are Aqu…"
"Aaaaahhh nooo!!!"
Black Dragon's lips sealed at her scream. He quickly pulled his earphones from his ear to save his eardrum before Dream's hysterical state turned them bad.
"Nooooo!!" she hollered once more. This time she did not waste a second and threw her glass of wine against the wall in her loving area.
"Aargh!"
Thankfully the phone was on speaker on the chair close to her, else Black Dragon was sure she'd be hitting it against the wall.
He did not bother calming her down and gave her the time to process this information however she wanted—screaming, laughing, angry, throwing tantrums even.
By the time she calmed down, her shallower breathing echoing through the phone, a warm smile spread out on his lips.
"Better?"
"I'll be when I take all three of them out of the picture."
"Hmm."
"Aurora had the effrontery to get pregnant for my man! Why didn't I see it sooner and help remove that pregnancy?!"
B.D. did not bother answering.
His job was to get his client's wishes and see that they were fulfilled.
What their hatred or anger was, wasn't his problem. His was—who, what, where, how, when?
"What do you want to do, Ms.?"
A dark glint flashed across Dream's eyes as she fell back onto the couch. "What I want…" her lips curled up at the side, her mischievous smile displaying in her eyes. "Now I want her life too."