2025-01-11 02:20:16Dee woke up in her bed with a throbbing ache in the right side of her head which made her wince inaudibly as she struggled to open her eyes. The curtains of her room had been left wide open and she could see the sun setting across the horizon. She had always loved watching the sunset especially when she sits by the pool of hers’ and Jason’s mansion which they lost to a deadly loan shark whose constant threat made them escape the city for her parents’. Jason had however never provided her with answers to the question of what he used the money for. She closed her eyes again as she felt the numbing ache returning with extra throbs.
Dee caught herself drifting into dreamland again until she felt something warm snuggling close to her body. She instantly opened her eyes and turned her head to check what it was. It was then that she realized that Ria was sleeping beside her on the bed. She wondered why Ria was sleeping beside her as she rarely sleeps in the room with her without her father being present. This time around, she felt the ache in her head subsiding as she struggled to understand what was happening and tried to remember what had happened. ‘The funeral… The angels with broken wings… ZacXavi… Aunt May.’, she thought as she struggled to remember what happened after and she did remember. ‘The guy in black!’. She exclaimed in her thoughts. Dee almost ruled it out as a figment of her imagination until she remembered that she saw him not once but twice. She remembered clearly those icy cold eyes with a body shrouded in black like a Grim Reaper shooting daggers at her, deep into her soul. ‘I passed out!’, she said and gasped as Fiona walked into her room. ‘Thank goodness you are finally awake, sis’, Fiona said as she sat at the edge of the bed. ‘What happened?’, She questioned as she made to sit up as her sister assisted her to sit upright against the headboard. ‘I was on my way to the garden when I saw you falling to the ground. You scared everybody.’ ‘How?’, Dee asked with her brows furrowing in confusion. ‘I don’t know what happened to you but do you remember Sidney?’ ‘Sidney?’ ‘Yes. Sid’ ‘What about him?’ ‘He was at the cemetery and he was the one who carried you from the garden to the cemetery parlor where he checked whatever he checked to make sure that you are fine. It was afterwards that he brought you home in his car.’ ‘And you let him into this house?!’ ‘Well, he offered to help.’ ‘After everything he did to you in high school?’ ‘Oh! You want me to put me in the spotlight, huh?’, Fiona questioned while eyeing Dee. ‘What did he say it was?’, Dee asked as she slid down to rest her head on the pillow as she was feeling sleepy again. ‘Stress. And something else’ ‘What is it?’, she asked while yawning ‘You might be pregnant but…’Fiona paused before continuing while studying Dee’s face intently ‘but he said he wasn’t sure that you have to use a pregnancy test kit or go to a hospital to confirm it’. Dee did not know how to react. She was not sure whether to be excited or not. She knew she was late but had thought that her hormones were at work again. ‘It can’t be Jason’s … it can’t be ZacXavi’s because he always used …’, she thought as she felt the ache returning. ‘No! It can’t be.’, she exclaimed as her voice started to break and she started to sob loudly. Fiona immediately took her in her arms and she also started to sob quietly as she felt her heart ache seeing her sister in pain. Ria, who had woken up saw her mother and her aunt hugging each other and decided to join in. The sudden wrap of tiny arms around her mom’s and aunts back startled them as they almost forgot that she was in the room with them. Fiona and Dee immediately detached as they both wiped their faces while Fiona carried Ria into her arms. The only thing that could be heard in the room was the ticking of a wall clock which was hung just opposite the bed as they all went silent for a while before Fiona broke the silence. ‘I still have the pregnancy test kit that I bought 3 months ago. Whatever decision you make regarding this is up to you. Regardless, I’ll always support you. I love you so much, Dee.’, she said as she planted a kiss on Dee’s forehead. ‘What about me?’, Ria asked with her tiny voice serving as a soothing balm for both Dee and Fiona as they felt themselves relax upon hearing her voice. ‘I love you so much, Ria and your mum also loves you so so so much’, Fiona replied while cuddling Ria. ‘Does daddy loves me?’, she asked innocently. ‘Yes, he does.’ Fiona replied while staring straight at Dee who appeared emotionless. ‘Why hasn’t he returned with my book?’ ‘What book, cupcake?’, Fiona asked. ‘Goaty and his friends.’ ‘He will return with it soon, Cupcake. He is just super busy at work.’ ‘But I miss him’, Ria said ‘Don’t worry, sweetheart. You Dad will be back soon’, Dee replied while standing up on her wobbly legs as she struggled to lift them from the ground. ‘Why don’t you go and play with Grandma, Sweetheart? Your aunt and I have something to discuss.’,Dee continued as she walked unsteadily towards the vanity. Ria immediately detached herself from Fiona and walked out of the room to look for her Grandma. As Dee opened the drawer to search for the test kit she had kept hidden from view, she could not help but think about the possibility of her being pregnant. She remembered that she had taken some pills after she ‘mistakenly’ slept with Danny on a hot afternoon when they were both home alone and he walked in on her showering in the bathroom. Things have been really awkward between them since then but everyone else was too stuck in their own world to have noticed. She shuddered as the thought crossed her mind again and it sent her straight into another round of aches in her head. Dee did not know what happened after as she can only hear her sister calling out her name from a far distance. She felt herself been forced into dreamland by an unknown force which dragged her farther into darkness until something jerked her awake again. It was the tinge of a needle piercing her skin which shut her down. When she felt the darkness lift from her surrounding, she realized that she was in a room which was occupied by a bed which she was on and medical equipment which were connected to her. But as she turned her head to look around, she saw someone in scrub walking towards the door. It was a nurse, a male nurse whose face she did not see as his back was turned towards her but his physique and aura felt too familiar. As he reached the door, he turned and smiled sweetly at her but she could not return it as she felt herself freeze with fright and she slipped into darkness again.
Previous Chapter
Related Chapters
The Billionaire's Masked Heir CHAPTER 8
Sidney, who was coincidentally the doctor assigned to Dee told her that she was indeed pregnant. He confirmed that it was the pregnancy coupled with stress that succeeded in shutting her body down several times. She, however, did not react in any way to the news as it merely confirmed her fears. She knew she could not tell Danny as he was not interested in having a child as he wanted to be hundred percent child-free. Telling her sister, she knew will spell doom for the whole family and ruin her sister’s happy marriage. Dee wanted an easy way out. As soon as Dee left the hospital after 6 days of medical care and attention, she began to seek the easy ways out of a lifetime burden and the evidence of her unfaithfulness. She knew Jason would automatically be identified father of the baby but a living being had to take responsibility because she knew she was too broke to cater for a pregnancy talk more of a child. ‘ZacXavi is the easy way out.’, she thought as she picked up her phone l
The Billionaire's Masked Heir CHAPTER 9
His eye lids felt as though they were glued to his eyeballs as they have stayed shut since he became conscious enough to realize that he had been trying to open them. The more he tried, the more he realized that it was a futile effort. Jason felt trapped in some place, something as small and stuffy as a shoe box. The air around him was hot, too hot that he felt himself drifting in and out of consciousness despite his struggle to stay awake. As he struggled desperately to free himself from whatever was holding him captive, he felt his body sprawling out effortlessly onto a softer platform. It was at this point that he felt his head spinning; more like his whole body was tied to a spinning wheel. Then, it stopped. Everything stopped again as he felt his whole body been stuffed into a much smaller box and space again. …The doctor was sited behind his table which was crowded by several medical books, hospital records and a hospital file named ‘X-Classified’ printed beneath ‘ARKWRATH H
The Billionaire's Masked Heir CHAPTER 10
John’s eyes were glued to the 10 different screens in front of him in the security office of ArkWrath hospital. It was not a one man’s job but his shift mate had left him alone in the room again to take another quick dump which John had lost count of the number within 3 hours. His focus was interrupted by his ringing phone. They had been warned not to leave their phones on during work hours but today was a special day and he was willing to risk not only his job but also his life for it. As he answered the call, he said nothing and waited for the caller whom he had identified through the unsaved number to say the safe word which they had mastered, ‘Fix it when you should’.‘Fix it when you should. It’s done. Do your part now mate.’ the caller said‘Got it. Spotlights on me in 3 minutes. How far along was it?’, he asked‘3 minutes at most. Clean the slates ASAP.’, she repliedBefore John could reply again, he heard a vigorous knock on the door of the security room. ‘Duty calls’, he sai
The Billionaire's Masked Heir CHAPTER 11
The sterile air of the hospital felt heavy, almost suffocating. Nurse Syma stood quietly in the room, her hands steady as she adjusted the syringe in her gloved fingers. The heavily bandaged and ironically fragile figure lying unconscious, had no idea of the darkness that loomed over him. She felt an obvious disconnect with the figure and sighed at the thought of not having a personal attachment to him. To her, he was just another target, another cog in the machine of a larger, ruthless scheme that had drawn her in. Syma knew that she couldn’t afford to make any mistakes. She carefully inserted the syringe into his IV line, pushing the plunger slowly. The content of the syringe was designed to eliminate him within 5 minutes. Once she had emptied the syringe, she dipped it into her scrub’s pocket which hid the slight tremble of her hand at that moment. She knew what came next. The job would be done, and she would move on. ‘No emotional attachment, no second thoughts’, she thought as
The Billionaire's Masked Heir CHAPTER 12
It was not until 5 days later before he was sucked back into full consciousness. As he became more conscious, Jason’s eyes fluttered open, but the sight before him was not what he was expecting to see. The room smelt like antiseptic, lavender and was unnervingly quiet except for the beeping sounds coming from behind his head. His body felt heavy, like it belonged to someone else. He felt the throb of pain in every inch of his body ached as the air around him felt too thick for comfort. He tried to lift his arm, but it refused to budge. His limbs felt as though they were made of stone. Jason felt the sudden rush of panic from somewhere deep inside him, but it was muffled and too distant to appear on his face or prompt any reflex action. He tried again, pushing against the invisible weight that held him down, willing his right hand to move. Slowly, agonizingly as the ache in his joint rose in intensity, it twitched, and then, crawled toward his face. His fingertips brushed the mask th
The Billionaire's Masked Heir CHAPTER 13
Dr. Mark Atkins sat behind his table in his office as the steady hum of the fluorescent lights above was doing little to break the eerie silence surrounding him. His gaze was fixed on the screen in front of him, but his mind was far from the rows of data staring in his face. The cursor on the page blinked rapidly as his fingers hovered above the keyboard, but there was no pressing need to type. His mind was lost, more like entangled in the grief of Syma’s passing, which has made it harder for him to focus. For a fleeting moment, the world around him felt distant and empty, as if he were disconnected from everything that used to matter to him. The quiet rhythm of his heartbeat was his only companion in that stillness. The memories of Syma, her infectious laughter, the way her dark hair like her father's framed her face, the sparkle in her eyes when she smiled, everything ccame rushing back that he felt tears stinging his eyes. It had only been 5 days since he heard the nerve wrecking
The Billionaire's Masked Heir CHAPTER 14
2 days before Jason's assumed final moments at the hospital, Daisy heard something she shouldn't have and the events that followed till Jason's miraculous recovery were a blur in her memory as she had been constantly injected with a high dosage of valium 5. ...Suddenly, Daisy felt something restricting her body in an awkward manner as she began to regain consciousness after days of her inertia. Her head pounded with each breath she took as if a drumbeat was been rattled in its highest volume through her skull. She could feel the remnants of something cold, something suffocating clinging desperately to her consciousness. Her hands felt somewhat numb and when she tried to move as the sharp and constricting feeling of rope around her wrists stung her skin. She tugged as she took in her surroundings, but the ropes held firm. Her body, too, felt as if it were suffocating in the darkness which she was. The sudden urge to scream made her realise that something had been shoved and taped in
The Billionaire's Masked Heir CHAPTER 15
It had been ten months since the accident, yet Jason felt like he had only just begun to breathe again. His body, which had been broken and bruised beyond recognition, had recovered at an alarming rate that surprised his doctor. Dr. Mark Atkins had been certain it would take years for him to regain any semblance of his old strength, but Jason had defied expectations. His bones had mended quicker than anticipated, and his muscles had followed suit. However, his mind remained locked away, trapped in a burning fog and no matter how hard he tried, the memories eluded him.There were too many unanswered questions that gnawed at him in his quiet moments. What had he looked like before the accident? Was he the same person now that he had become? What had his life been like? And, most pressing of all, how had the accident happened? Every time he asked, his father, Mr. ArkWrath, his Aunt May, and even Dr. Atkins, they would change the subject or keep their responses vague.The more time passed
Latest Chapter
CHAPTER 52
Olivia was already drained by the end of the evening. She had spent the night engaging in spontaneous, high-stakes conversations with everyone Jason had met, responding to their questions, trying to fit into a world where she wasn’t quite sure where she belonged. It had been exhilarating, but now, as she slid into the car beside Jason, she felt every ounce of fatigue in her body. The moment the door closed behind them, Olivia leaned her head against the cool glass, closing her eyes for a moment of quiet. She had assumed they were headed back to his mansion, or perhaps to one of the hotels Jason now owns. After all, this night was all about Jason, wasn’t it? The thought of him heading back to the solitude of his father's mansion didn’t even cross her mind.But as she began to drift into a light sleep, the sudden jolt of the car’s movement woke her from her slumber. Her eyes fluttered open, the grogginess clouding her thoughts.Jason, sensing her waking, leaned over and whispered softl
CHAPTER 51
Olivia couldn’t tear her gaze away from him, though she tried. His mysterious aura seemed to pull at something deep within her, a mix of curiosity and… caution. She’d seen him speak to countless people tonight, his words measured, his movements precise, and that mask, that damned mask, seemed to make him even more enigmatic.. A part of her wanted to unravel the mystery of him, to know what lay beneath that mask, beneath the layers he so carefully kept hidden. But she wasn’t sure if she was prepared to face whatever truths he kept locked away.She sighed, pushing the thoughts aside. Her focus should have been on the room, but instead, it kept returning to Jason, his gaze, the way his presence shifted the energy in the space. He wasn’t just another man; he was dangerous in the most captivating way.Across the room, Jason was deep in conversation with Mary Laston, the CEO of L'ton Industries. A woman who seemed to consume power with every breath she took. Mary was the kind of woman who
CHAPTER 50
The grand hall of ArkWrath Manor buzzed with a quiet, but palpable, tension. Guests milled about in the sea of glimmering gowns and sharp tuxedos, the air thick with whispered conversations and unspoken alliances.At the center of it all stood **Olivia**, her pixie cut framing her sharp, determined features. Gone was the girl who had entered the ArkWrath empire mere months ago, uncertain and unnoticed. In her place was a woman who carried herself like she owned every inch of the room. The dress Jason had selected for her tonight—a fitted midnight black silk gown, velvet and flowing, with lace embroidery along the hem—was breathtaking. The long slit up the side of the gown allowed her to move like a shadow, fluid and untouchable. Jason ArkWrath—president of the entire ArkWrath empire—had, according to the press, chosen wisely. Jason appeared at her side again, his deep-set eyes hidden behind a black and gold mask that matched his dark tailored suit perfectly. There was a certain wild
CHAPTER 49
The night had finally arrived. The city of ArkWrath buzzed with anticipation as the opening chords of a new era played out in the luxurious ballroom of the ArkWrath estate. The welcoming party was not just an event—it was a statement. Every detail, every glance exchanged, every whispered word carried weight. Jason stood before the large mirror in his suite, his father’s new butler—a tall, perfectly composed man named Benet—having finished the final adjustments to his attire. Jason’s tuxedo was tailored to perfection, black as the night with gold accents that subtly hinted at the opulence of the ArkWrath legacy. His mask, a work of art, rested over his face, hiding his expression from the world. The ArkWrath family did not simply walk into a room; they commanded it. And tonight, Jason was going to make sure the world saw him as more than just a name—he was the face of this empire. He barely noticed Benet fussing with his cufflinks, his mind preoccupied with the events to come. His f
CHAPTER 48
Jason stood by the grand windows of his mansion, the floor-to-ceiling glass offering him a sweeping view of Arkwrath serene coastline. The sun was just beginning to set, casting its golden light across the shimmering water. This mansion was the perfect place for power players like himself to keep their secrets hidden. But secrets, as Jason had come to learn, were never fully hidden. They had a way of bubbling up, especially when you had too many people to trust.His father’s call had come just two days ago, and now, with the welcoming party drawing near, Jason was still grappling with the weight of the conversation. Winston, his father, had been unusually insistent that Jason make time to visit Aunt May. The invitation was personal, informal, and in Jason's eyes, fraught with potential complications."Aunt May insists on cooking for you," Winston had said, his voice gruff but warm. "She wants to meet the man who's taken over everything that once belonged to her husband. I understand
CHAPTER 47
As the day wore on, Olivia couldn’t help but feel the weight of it all. She had no idea how much her life would change from this point forward, but one thing was certain: she was now part of Jason’s world. And as much as she tried to deny it, a part of her couldn’t help but wonder what else lay behind that mask, behind that calm, composed exterior. She would have to learn to navigate this world, to keep her emotions in check. But deep down, she knew the hardest part would be keeping her growing attraction to Jason hidden. Because no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t deny the undeniable pull he had on her. And that terrified her more than anything else..Olivia stared at her phone, her eyes scanning the schedule once again. The calendar she’d just synced with Jason's was now filled with precise, almost meticulous details of her upcoming days. There were meetings, appointments, tasks—all arranged with an efficiency that left no room for ambiguity. As she went through the events, o
CHAPTER 46
Olivia had returned to her seat and she didn’t trust him. Not yet. But as Jason’s fingers moved swiftly over the keyboard, she realized that her choice was already made. She had no other option but to trust him, at least for now.Again, Olivia sat in the uncomfortable silence of the room, her eyes darting between Jason and the space around them. There was an air of discomfort about the situation, a palpable tension that seemed to follow Jason wherever he went. He was different from the man she had first met—different from the son of Arkwrath who had been an unspoken legend. Jason was no longer just a figure in the shadows of his father’s empire; now, he was its heart, and every action he took seemed deliberate, controlled, and... unsettling.She had tried to understand him in the moments she spent around him, but now, in this office—his domain—it felt like the game had just begun. Jason didn’t seem like the kind of person to make idle conversation. He spoke when he needed to, and when
CHAPTER 45
Olivia sat across from Jason, her mind racing as she observed his every move. He was different now, no longer the man she had once seen in passing, no longer the son of the man who had ruled the empire with unyielding control. Jason was the empire now. And Olivia couldn't help but wonder: was this his true nature? Or was it all an elaborate façade? His calculated demeanor, the coldness with which he spoke, it was as if everything was part of a game—a game she didn’t fully understand but would soon be forced to play.Jason’s gaze never wavered as he stared down at the screen of his laptop, the soft glow illuminating his sharp features. His presence in the room was suffocating even. He exuded an energy that made everything else seem insignificant. Olivia shifted in her seat, feeling like an intruder in this vast, cold office.Then, just as she thought she had figured out his demeanor, he spoke again, his voice cutting through the silence like a blade.“You’re going to start living with
CHAPTER 44
Jason stepped out of the elevator and into the atrium of the Arkwrath Tower. The faint hum of the city outside echoed in the massive glass windows, but inside, there was nothing but silence and the sense of impending change. The air seemed thicker, charged with a subtle tension as if the world itself was holding its breath, waiting for him to take the first step into his new role. As he crossed the polished marble floors, his heels clicking against the surface, a realization hit him. This was it. This was the moment. He wasn’t just stepping into his father’s shoes—he was claiming the throne. He was no longer the son of the man who had once built the empire; he was the emperor now. And whether he liked it or not, the world was going to watch him. His every move, every decision, would be scrutinized. Agreed with, disagreed with, criticized, and most of all, gossiped about. Jason had always known this would come. But now, as he entered his father’s old domain, there was a tangible weig
