1 CHAPTER ONE: Daddy is Awake!
When he came to Elijah woke up to blinding white walls and a soft constant beeps in his ears.
Last he could remember was going to a convenience store to buy some vinegar for the homemade pickles he was making. As he was walking across the street a truck came barreling down towards him and the next thing he knew he was waking up in what he assumed was the hospital.
He slowly tried to sit up when suddenly a rush of memories came into his mind.
He saw memories of another life where he had a normal life, married at the age of 20, had kids at the age of 21, worked as a common corporate slave while his wife constantly neglected their children, and had affairs.
Elijah caught his wife and her current affair in the act where he demanded divorce to his wife and his wife pleaded not to leave her and when he didn't relent to her begging act she pushed him down the stairs in front of their children.
When the memories settled, he got worried with his parallel self's children in that woman's hands while this body is in a coma. Those children were innocent in all of these kinds of things and if something happened to them his conscience will take a toll on him. Despite his past, he could never really hurt children; they were easily manipulated and deceived.
Silently, he formulated a plan, he knew he had to step up and divorce that woman to make sure that she will be out of his life and possibly to the children as well.
Could this be father instincts? Remembering the old priest's words back when he was living in the orphanage.
His thoughts are interrupted by children's voices coming from the doorway.
"Daddy!"
Two little blond-haired kids jumped into his lap, a boy and a girl, wrapping him up tightly as they could with their short arms.
Following behind them was a nun, a very familiar face at that. "Henry, Helena you shouldn't run at the halls."
"Sister Margaret! Daddy is awake." The boy declared.
The nun looked up and saw Elijah sitting up, squished between his 'children's' arms.
"Praise the Lord, he has given us back my brother." She cried reaching out to hug him.
Now Elijah is enclosed between three people but he didn't mind at all.
"Thank God you're okay." The nun named Margaret sobbed. "Let me call the doctor."
She then left the room to call for the doctor.
It seemed nothing changed regarding her in this parallel universe, his twin sister who decided to follow the steps of the caretaker nuns in the orphanage where they grew up and taken care of, remains as coddling as ever.
"Daddy, don't leave us okay?" The boy pleaded to him looking up.
Elijah smiled at the boy, who he remembered was named Henry, and said. "I won't, I promise."
Henry just snuggled closer to Elijah in response. The girl, named Helena, took his attention by patting Henry's head trying to comfort her twin brother.
"Were you a good girl when daddy was asleep?" Elijah asked the girl.
Helena nodded silently and snuggled to Elijah.
Margaret came a few moments later where the children fell asleep on his lap, along with his attending doctor.
The doctor did the compulsory check-up of his health and left.
His sister took a seat at the end of the bed and took his hand.
"I didn't think I would ever see you again." She said.
"I have so much to live for, why would you think that?" Elijah responded.
She didn't respond but she squeezed his hand gently.
"How long have I been asleep?" He asks.
"Eight months." His sister replied.
Elijah nodded. "What happened to that woman?"
"She was arrested for attempted murder and she pleaded not guilty, what happened to you was ruled as an accident and she got out," Margaret said. The look of hatred was seen on her face something you shouldn't see to a servant of the lord.
Elijah placed a finger between her brows and said. "It doesn't matter anymore, she will get what she deserves someday."
Margaret looked surprised. "What? You can't let this go! We can go to the court and open the case and let that woman rot in prison!"
"And what? Let her lover bail her out again? Or hurt Henry and Helena?" Elijah chastises with his sister. "The only thing I want for now is to get out of here, divorce her, and take care of my kids."
"You will let her go unpunished!?" Margaret exclaimed.
"As of now, I don't have any ability to go against her and that man." He said. "Margaret, thank you for taking care of them."
"Hmph! How could I not they're my favorite niece and nephew after all." The nun said forgoing her vendetta to her brother's witch of a wife. "You're lucky your kids are smart, Henry called me and Helena called the ambulance. That witch ran after pushing you down the stairs and left the kids with your limp body."
Elijah opened his arms invitingly for a hug with his sister giving him one.
"So what's your plan now?" She said. "I packed all your and the kids' belongings and stored it to rented storage, unfortunately, you named the house after that demoness so she sold the house. Your previous company had relieved you from their employment but they gave you a very generous sum for severance pay and paid for half of your hospital bills."
"They're very kind," Elijah replied.
"Well, you were one of their best workers."
"I supposed all those tiring nights were worth it." He chuckled. "Could you call my insurance company and take off Tiana's name on the beneficiaries? And call Mr. Mills as well."
"I will do it first thing in the morning? Anything else?" She asked.
Elijah thought for a moment. "Can you search for a new lease for the kids and me somewhere near a school and have tight security? As soon as possible, so we can move in after I leave the hospital. The price doesn't matter."
"You can stay with me after you get discharged from here, why the rush?"
"I need to stand on my feet as soon as possible, don't worry if I'm having a hard time I will come running for my big sister's help."
Margaret seemed resigned to his decision and relented. "You better."
---
A few hours later, his sister, Henry, and Helena left to go back home. His two kids promised to go back to the hospital tomorrow as soon as their classes finished.
Margaret left her smartphone with him, in case he needed something.
As soon as they were out of the room, Elijah opened up the browser application on the phone and searched everything about Tiana Ramirez, his Ex-wife.
He checked all her social media and news about her lover Joseph Collins.
It doesn't seem that there was news about the fact they're having an affair, just some gossip about how Joseph Collins, Tiana Ramirez, and Joseph's son, Carson were having a great time somewhere in Country B.
This woman was glad to be a mother to a son whom she didn't give birth to than her own children, how wicked.
Elijah perused more old news about the two and saw an old article about 6 months ago where it was speculated they were having an affair where Tiana had denied and refuted that she was indeed married before but she was already widowed.
No mention of having children.
Elijah took a screenshot of that article, something he could use to get full custody of Henry and Helena.
He was glad his parallel self was meticulous with his planning. When his parallel self suspected Tiana of having an affair, he hid their marriage certificate and hired a private investigator to collect evidence which he left to his lawyers keeping until he decided to divorce her so he could have full custody of the children and gain ownership.
Unfortunately, he became erratic when he saw them in the act and decided to hell with his plans and tried to divorce her where he found her then he was pushed off the stairs and went into a coma.
Well, his plans were derailed for a few months but since Tiana and her lover had no idea he was awake from the coma, he had enough time to plan carefully how to destroy their lives.
After all, he wasn't called the King of the Underworld for nothing.
