CHAPTER 82: FIVE-YEAR CONSPIRACY TO UNCOVER

[Present Time]

Atlas blinked, pulling himself out of the memory of that fateful night; the night his strength and stamina had been tested. She was, after all, quite wild.

The problem was that he couldn’t stay with her or wait for her to wake up. He did wait, but she slept like a dead fish all morning. So, he left his card beside her with a note:

[Call me.]

Yet, she didn’t.

During that time, he didn’t have much time; his family’s future was on the line. Had she called him, he would’ve made time. However, not only did she not call, but she also just disappeared. When he came back to the same place, there were no signs of her.

What they had was pure pleasure.

Even when he wanted to know more about her, his situation prevented him from doing so. Though the thought of looking for her would constantly cross his mind, it was too dangerous.

Then, the twins came.

He took that as her answer. So, he disregarded any thought of her and focused on his children.

She knew his name and almost everything about him, so it would have been impossible for her not to know where his parents lived. But since the twins found her—and she did fit the description he’d told his children, aside from the fact that she was less adorable now—he had more questions than answers.

Why did she have a grave for her kid?

How did she come to believe she had lost her kid?

And who in the hell took the kids and delivered them right to his parents’ doorstep—on the exact day he was in that place, as if they had known all along he would get the delivery?

Atlas stood up and approached the window. He gazed at the still-busy King’s City. He swirled the glass of wine before him, chugging the rest of it before keeping his eyes on the window.

"Things might get interesting," he whispered, a flicker of malice resurfacing in his eyes. "It seems I have a five-year conspiracy to uncover... interesting."

And in a way, he was looking forward to it.

Who was the person behind all of this? Because, if he made a list, it would be long. After all, he was only human, and whether he wanted to or not, he’d stepped on a few people’s toes.

****

Days had passed without any incident. For some reason, Lola managed to survive her new living conditions with the adorable Chacha and Second, their father, Atlas, and, surprisingly, their uncle Slater. Though in their own way, they made her feel like she was the one crashing in their place and not the other way around.

They had taken control of her walk-in wardrobe. Slater took control of another spare room and a few others for his things because the life of a superstar was apparently crazy. But she had let all of that pass to save her sanity.

Even when Slater shamelessly added his own flair to his room, she let it go. It felt like Lola kept letting everything slide just so they would behave, and they did!

Before she knew it, it had been a while since they all started living under the same roof.

"Wow..." Chacha and Second stood beside her outside the ring, watching Cedrick and Haji spar. "So cool!"

The twins clapped, causing Cedrick and Haji to pause their training. The two of them turned at the sound, catching sight of the two little children standing beside their rockstar of a mother.

Cedrick smiled the moment he saw Lola and was about to raise a hand when Haji suddenly slid his foot behind his.

THUD!

"Ugh—!" Cedrick winced as he landed hard, glaring at Haji. The latter smirked and shrugged.

"That’s what you get for being distracted," Haji mocked. "You had the chance to take me down, but instead, you let me recover. Another lesson learned!"

With that, he slapped his gloves together and headed to the ring’s corner. Resting his arms over the ropes, he jerked his chin at Lola.

"And who are the baby monsters with you?" he asked, referring to the twins.

"Hello~! I’m Chacha!" Chacha politely chimed in, followed by Second. "I’m Second. Nice to meet you, sir! You’re so cool!"

Haji studied them and then shifted his attention back to Lola. "Your kids?" Before she could answer, the twins already cheered, "Yes~!"

Haji scrunched up his nose, studying the twins’ Halloween makeup that somehow matched their mother’s. Chacha even looked like the horror doll Annabelle, while Second looked like a vampire. Their mother was an unknown species.

"How did you spawn them?" he asked out of pure curiosity, but Lola didn’t pay attention to him.

She had her attention on Cedrick, who managed to get up and approach the rope. "Come down from there," she told him. "I’ll wait for you at the office. We need to talk."

Cedrick’s brows rose, but he nodded in understanding. Having said that, Lola turned to the twins.

"Babies, Mommy’s just going to work, okay? For now, stay with him," she said, pointing toward Haji. "He might look a bit scary, but he’s a nice guy."

"Okay~!" they cheered with an adorable smile, running past her as they quickly approached the ring where Haji was. "Uncle, we want to play too!"

"Ey, I’m not playing here—" Haji stopped as the two of them bounced up and down, demanding to play with him.

Seeing this, he let out a shallow breath before casting Lola a lazy look. The latter smirked at him deviously before leaving him to look after her "little spawn of evil."

"Alright, alright." He raised his hands and got down. "I’m not playing, but I can teach you some tricks to save yourselves in case you need it."

"Yay~!"

****

Lola could hear the twins’ faint cheers from the office. She chuckled and shook her head, seated on the long, patchy couch. It had been a while since they had tagged along, so it was nice to have them around. Their voices, including Haji’s, sounded louder when the door opened.

Coming in was Cedrick, who walked in politely. "Taz, I thought—"

"Take off your clothes," she cut him off in an instant, giving him a deadpan look. "I want to see your body."