Father, Can You Hear Me?

“God—” “Not God,” he muttered against my neck, biting the skin there. “Me. Say my name.” “Dorian!” I cried, back arching. “That’s it.” He stroked faster, his thumb teasing over the tip, slicking me up. “Good boy. Take it.” Ezra Monroe was raised to be pure. The perfect choir boy. Twenty-two and untouched—soft voice and eyes that have never looked too long at sin. But one man ruins everything. Father Dorian Vale. The moment his eyes meet Ezra’s, something snaps. And a good boy learns how to kneel for the wrong man. He was supposed to guide him to heaven. Instead, he’s teaching him how to sin. He’s not here to save Ezra. He’s here to ruin him. Slowly. Until every prayer sounds like his name.

“What do you think I'm trying to do, daddy?” “Daddy?” She was definitely trying to make me go crazy right now. “Sirena…” “I love how you say my name. It sounds like a prayer. Like a plea.” He was her father's best friend. Her forbidden night. And the biggest lie of her life. Maria has just landed her dream promotion which was supposed to be the start of everything she has worked for. Heartbroken and humiliated by a devastating betrayal, she seeks comfort in the arms of a stranger for just one reckless night, only for him to reappear the next day as her father's best friend and shockingly as her company’s CEO. Petyr is older, powerful and everything Maria should run from but fate keeps pushing them together and she is pulled into a world of power, lust and manipulation. As betrayals unravel and seduction turns into obsession, a devastating truth emerges: every moment from the heartbreak to their electrifying encounters was orchestrated. With her heart on the line and a scandalous tape threatening to destroy her, Maria must decide, will she run from the man who broke her or surrender to the man who had claimed her body and soul?

“You better be as long as the lengths you go to avoid me.” “Miss Patterson?!” he sounds flabbergasted. My eyes start to adjust to the darkness and I see that he is at the far corner, sitting on one of two seats in the room. “Is that what you’ve chosen to call me? Can you moan that?” “Miss Patterson!! I am your priest! You ought not to show up like this in front of me and say vulgar things to me.” He tries and fails to sound stern. He was practically drooling. “Yet all you want to do is clasp your hand on my chest and listen to me sing praises to you.” “You are of the devil.” I nod, “I’ve been called worse. But is it okay for a priest to moan about the devil while inside me?” “Will you stop??” “I will, after I’ve had my fill with you.” Melanie Rose Patterson wants her priest, and will stop at nothing to get into his pants. Because no matter what his mouth says, his body wants her. What Melanie wants, Melanie always gets... until now.

At the party, my daughter deliberately raises a question to my husband. "Daddy, since Ms. Lloyd is having your baby, does that mean we'll be living with her in the future?" He places the nicely cut steak onto my plate and answers softly, "Your mommy and I made a deal—whoever betrays first will disappear from the other's life. I can't afford for that to happen, darling, so this must stay a secret. Even when the baby is born, I will never let Mommy find out about them." Then, he signs to me, "I'll always love you." My eyes turn red-rimmed without him noticing. Little does he know, my hearing was restored a week ago. He doesn't realize I've learned about the mistress he's been hiding either. And he definitely doesn't know I've secretly bought a ticket to volunteer-teach in the Seru Plateau. All I have to do is wait for the paperwork to clear in seven days. Then, I'll disappear from his life for good.

On the day I received my prenatal test results, I heard a voice from inside my belly—my unborn child speaking to me. 'Mom, Dad will divorce you as soon as you give birth to me. His true love can't have children. That's why he married you. You're just a tool to give birth. Once I'm born, he'll divorce you, take me away, and go live happily ever after with her.' I believed every word. Without hesitation, I chose divorce. For nine months, I focused on carrying the pregnancy, planning to raise the child on my own. But on the day I went into labor, something went terribly wrong. The doctor said the baby was premature, and the position was dangerously abnormal. "The baby keeps flipping around inside you," she said. "It's like it's deliberately putting you through hell." Eight hours of emergency treatment accomplished nothing. In the end, it was a difficult labor—both mother and child died. As my consciousness faded, I heard that voice again. 'Haha. Dad never cheated at all. I lied to you.' Why would a child lie? I couldn't understand it, not even at the moment of death. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the very day I first received the prenatal test report.

My dad died in a car crash. On the seventh day after his death, I hear him whisper in my ear, "Amara, save your brother. There are cracks in the old stone bridge at the village entrance... It will collapse... He will die." I immediately call my brother, Asher Langford, and he takes a different route out of the village. But that afternoon, the police report that a murder took place on that road. The victim is Asher. My sister-in-law, Delia Winslow, and I bury him in tears. On the seventh day after my brother's death, I hear my dad's voice again. "Amara, keep an eye on Jasper. Don't go to the back of the hill. The dead trees there attract lightning... There will be a thunderstorm in three days." That night, Delia locks my nephew, Jasper Langford, inside the house. But three days later, Jasper falls from a window on the 12th floor. Delia goes insane after losing her husband and son consecutively in such a short time. Holding back my grief, I leave my own son, Billy Calloway, with my husband, Felix Calloway, and help Delia lay Jasper to rest. On the seventh day after Jasper's death, I see my dad holding Billy's hand and looking back at me with a sorrowful expression. He says, "Amara... There are spirits looking for substitutes in the reed marsh in the village. Take care of Billy. Don't go..."