YOKED TO A BILLIONAIRE BY VENNEH LISAH

𝐘𝐎𝐊𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐎 𝐀 𝐁𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐄

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐇𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐒𝐈𝐗𝐓𝐘 :

Ryan did not dare think more into it. Tears welled up in his eyes. He balled his hands into fists to stop his body from shaking.

"Mommy…" Eliana said and burst into tears at Ryan's words.

"Mommy wouldn't be in trouble, would she?" Jason mumbled anxiously. "We are supposed to have a photoshoot today. Why did the driver take mommy out? Where did they go?"

"We have to ask great-grandpa," Ryan said as he twisted behind to look at D'barl angrily with tear-stained eyes.

"What happened?" Douglas asked. He left for just a minute to answer a phone call and returned to the children crying for their mother. The head maid filled him in.

"No, Young sir Ryan, you are mistaken," Douglas hurriedly explained. "Mr. D'barl came today to…"

"Shut your mouth!" D'barl interrupted. His intention of coming that day was to propose to Davon that day he could keep Violla, but not marry her. Probably sent her to a different state or nation. Far from the family.

He intended to find a more suitable candidate to be Mrs. Roman. The future Mrs. Roman would then have to agree to the arrangement of Violla staying as the mother of the triplets. In a relationship with Davon.

D'barl considered that a compromise, but he did not expect the situation to become that chaotic before he proposed his plan.

"Even if it were me who has sent your mother away, what are you going to do about it?" D'barl sneered at Ryan.

"Then we will go with Mommy," Jason said as he clenched his fists. "Nobody can replace her!"

"I want Mommy, I want Mommy!" Eliana wept breathlessly, her eyes bloodshot.

"Dear sweet Eliana don't cry!" The head maid and several maids comforted Eliana but to no avail.

"Great-grandpa, why would you do such a thing?" Jason tugged at D'barl's feeble arm, as though he suddenly understood. "Why did you have to send mommy away?" he sobbed. "Why?"

"Mr. Old Roman, how could you be so wicked as to send her away?" Mrs. Blake asked as she wiped her tears. "Miss Milan has given birth to three lovely children for the Romans. Mr. Young Roman is fond of her as well. Why did you send her away?"

"You are all mistaken," Douglas said in a panic, but nobody seemed to be listening to him.

Ryan had had enough. "Mrs. Blake, pack our things. We are leaving."

"Right away!" With a wobble of her plump body, Mrs. Blake ran back to the house.

"Eliana, let's go look for Mommy," Jason said as he took his sister by the hand. They followed Ryan up the stairs. Not long after, they reappeared dragging their own suitcases.

Mrs. Blake had packed her massive suitcase as well. She was prepared to depart with the children.

The head maid and the maids were in a panic. "Children, don't leave! Your father wouldn't send your mother away. They will be back soon. Please don't act rashly! If you are all gone, how will we be able to explain things to your father?"

"Mrs. Blake, calm down," Douglas said, near tears. "Let us discuss this when Mr. Young Roman gets back. If you leave now, we would all be in serious trouble."

D'barl furrowed his brow and had a glum look on his face. He suddenly barked an order. "Prepare the car. We're taking the children to their mother."

"Huh?" Douglas was taken aback. "Miss Milan has been ambushed. Mr. Young Roman is on his way to rescue her. The situation now is…" Douglas used the sign language.

"There are eighteen elite bodyguards of the Roman family, and none could rescue one woman?" D'barl signed back. "Are you planning to pin the blame on me by hiding it from the children? But get a chance in the middle of the chaos to send Miss Milan far away, she can come back when Davon is married. We can use this to our advantage."

"Yes, sir. I will arrange for it immediately." Douglas knew that in that City, no crime would occur under the watchful eye of the Roman family.

With the arrival of a large group such as theirs, there wouldn't be any danger.

Furthermore, Davon and his Elite Eighteen weren't the only skilled fighters. The ten or so men who came with D'barl were lethal warriors as well.

Douglas arranged for several jeeps to transport D'barl and the triplets to the scene.

At the alley of Empire Night just ten minutes earlier, Violla had the driver park by the street while she entered the alley on her own.

The driver felt uneasy but did not dare defy her.Aside from several alley cats who scavenged the dumpster for food, not a single living thing was in sight.

Violla began to feel suspicious. Suddenly, an ominous feeling came from above.Looking up instinctively, she caught a glimpse of a flowerpot falling straight to her head.

Violla watched as it fell, but was rigid with shock to move. At the last second, a shadow appeared and shoved her out of harm's way. The pot shattered into pieces on the ground where she stood just moments before.

Violla covered her mouth in terror.

"Ma'am are you alright?" Came a concerned voice.

Violla looked up and saw the driver studying her nervously.

"I was afraid that you would be in danger, so I followed you here." The driver scanned the alley. "We shouldn't be here. Let's leave."

He was just about to escort Violla out of the alley when several dozen delinquents blocked their path of exit. They were well armed with an assortment of weapons, from machetes to batons. Violla felt an impending sense of danger.

"What's going on?" she asked suspiciously.

"Violla, I'm sorry," a sob came from behind them.

Violla spun around and saw Olympia being held by two men. She was beaten rather badly, as evidenced by her bloody face and torn clothes.

"Olympia," Violla called. She wanted to run forward to grab Olympia in her arms, but something about the bristling crowd warned her to stay where she was.

"I'm sorry, they threatened me with my mother's life." Olympia shook from weeping, her eyes filled with guilt. "I did not intend for you to come to any harm. I'm sorry."

"Nothing will happen to you with me here," Violla said. She addressed the delinquents. "How much does she owe you? I will pay for it. Just let her go."

"We don't want money. We want you." Several of the delinquents smiled nastily.

"You've gone too far!" shouted the Arthur.

"And who is this? Her knight in shining armor?" one of them sneered in disdain. "You alone can fight off twenty of us?"

Just as the words were out of his mouth, they charged forwards with machetes raised.Violla screamed with terror.

The driver, however, was unfazed. He stood his ground and beat them back with ease.

They were suddenly wary of the Roman driver, seeing as he was of no ordinary skill. They sent several more towards him while others grabbed Violla as the driver was occupied.

He was soon overwhelmed with trying to fend off the attacks and rescuing Violla at the same time.

She was captured and dragged roughly out of the alley. A windowless van appeared, and just when Violla was about to be shoved in,a jeep accelerated toward them and several bodyguards jumped down. They beat up the men holding Violla swiftly and retrieved her.

She looked up at her savior and saw that it was Clyde. "My friend and the driver are still in there. Please help them." She pointed back toward the alley.

"Yes, ma'am," Clyde responded. He led his men into the alley, while two more stayed back to guard Violla.

"Miss Milan, why don't you wait in the car?" One of the bodyguards opened the door for her.

"I will wait for them…"Before she could finish, a tank roared and flew toward them like an untethered horse.

"Ah..." Violla screamed, her mind a blank. She faintly heard the voices of the children calling out to her. "Mommy!"

The tank collided with the jeep with such force that it was sent flying several yards away.

It flipped over in the air before landing in a heap of rubble on the ground. The remains of the jeep exploded in a ball of fire and dense, black smoke engulfing the street.

The impact caused the alarms of the parked cars along the street to erupt in shrill sirens.

All of a sudden, the street descended into chaos and noise.

"Mommy!" the children screamed tearfully. They attempted to run over to her where the jeep exploded but were restrained by the bodyguards.

D'barl gaped in shock. He sat motionless in his wheelchair.

At that point, Davon arrived. He, too, stood frozen in horror at the scene but sprang to action seconds later.

He sprinted recklessly to Violla. "Mr. Young Roman..." a bodyguard said as he tried to restrain him but to no avail.

"Violla ! Come back, wherever you are!" Davon shouted like a deranged, grief-stricken beast.

"You said you were going to marry me and spend the rest of your life with me. You can't just disappear like that. Come back!"

He searched the burning wreckage with his bare hands as if the flames had kept her hidden from sight. 'I must find her. I must.'

Davon paid no attention to his burning clothes or even his scorched arms. All that mattered was that he found her.

"Mommy, Mommy…" the children cried as they wriggled free of the bodyguards' grasp. Together with their father, they ran around looking for Violla.

Their small figures shook with fear at the thought of losing their mother as they searched high and low for a trace of her.They paid no heed to the monstrous blaze, nor heat and danger.

D'barl remained in the car. The scene before him took his mind to the memory from that night years ago.

The burning house, the gut-wrenching screams, and cries.The three children before him were like the child Davon who was crying watching the house burn .

The sudden loss of loved ones would scar and traumatize one for life.

D'barl had always hoped to be rid of the obstacle that was Violla—even going as far as to wish that he would make her disappear. However, at that point, he felt guilty and horrible.

His heart broke as he witnessed the grief of his grandson and great-grandchildren.

D'barl even wished that he had given them his blessing earlier on. If he had, that might not even have happened. The explosion was not part of the plan. But deep down he hoped that Douglas had gotten Violla before the explosion. He was well aware that if Violla died , Davon will be a walking dead. The kids will be even worse.

And that was the case because three days later Violla woke up in a compound,the Roman driver Arthur and Mrs Blake were also stirring up from their slumber. "Mrs Blake,what are you doing here?" Violla was surprised. She shook Mrs Blake to completely wake her up from her sleep.

"Miss,are you okay?" Mrs Blake touched her face.

"I am but what are you doing here? Where is everyone? Where are we?" Violla was worried.

"Everyone left the villa. I couldn't keep calm so I followed but was kidnapped. I don't know what transpired because I was drugged?" Mrs Blake looked around.

"Mr Arthur,Mr Arthur." Violla rushed to the driver and shook him completely awake. The three recounted what happened.

"So Davon might not know where we are.And we have no means of contacting him?" Violla panicked when she saw Arthur quiet. "Could this be grandpa's plan to separate me from the kids and Davon?"

Violla ransacked her bag and saw her phone which had no signal at all. But there was a notification that read: Welcome to Gotham city.

"No ,no ,no why would the Romans send us this far? What are they up to? They are hell bent in taking my kids and keeping Davon from me. That's why they sent you away with me?" Violla strolled around the compound. It wasn't a posh place but it was also not so bad.

"They should have let you stay behind and take care of the triplets " Violla gritted.

"Don't worry Miss I am sure if Mr young Roman isn't part of it. He will surely come and get us. For the Romans to leave us in this compound means this is where we ought to stay. Let's go into the house we can plan what to do next from inside it's about to rain.?" Mrs Blake comforted Violla.

"Arthur why did they send you with us?" Violla asked but all he did was shrug.She had noticed the driver was unusually quiet but they didn't think much into it.

Mrs. Blake walked out to the yard to see if there was a way they could get entry into the house as it was beginning to rain. Arthur was walking to the front. To her apprehension, she saw several black sedans outside the compound. It was the Romans' family's convoy.

Mrs. Blake leaped in joy, assuming that the Roman family had come to pick them up. "Miss, Miss! Hurry! The Roman family has sent someone to pick us up!"

Violla rushed to the back yard hearing Mrs. Blake's holler.

"Miss, isn't that the Roman family's convoy? It looks like it!" Mrs. Blake pointed toward the cars on the other side of the fence.

"Yes, it's them." Violla held the hem of the dress and ran toward the gate. But the moment she pushed the gate open, the face she saw was that of someone she loathed.

"Hi, Violla. It's been a while! You are such a hard person to find." It was Laura, who had a malignant grin on her face.

Violla was in absolute stupefaction. When she returned to her senses, she slammed the gate shut as fast as she could and locked it.

"Miss, what's wr..." Mrs Blake started.

"It's Laura! Run!" Violla held Mrs. Blake's hand tightly and headed toward the front gate.

"Come! We have to go!" Violla was like a cat on a hot tin roof. She dragged Mrs. Blake toward the front gate.The guards were pounding on the small wooden gate at the back.

They ran into Arthur. "Mrs Blake. I found some fruit...."

"Call the police. Someone's trying to kill us!" shouted Violla at Arthur and continued her fleeing with Mrs. Blake.

Arthur stood there dumbfounded. Before he could make any sense out of Violla's words, a few beefy men knocked him down.

While he tried to root his feet on the ground, he was pushed down again by another few who were chasing after Violla. The fruits that he was holding rolled onto the grass and cracked open and was trampled to mush.

Arthur wasn't having any of it. He got up and was ready to reproach them until he saw a man of towering height glaring murderously at him. That man was holding a gun too. Arthur immediately got out of their way.

"Mind your own business!" The brute gave him a warning and continued his chase.

"Get her!" It was the voice of a woman. Arthur turned around to see Laura. She and her bodyguards were trying to catch up with the rest of the gang.

"Stay away from me!" Violla's cries were heard from the distance.

Triggered by her agonized voice, Arthur almost jumped in to save the damsel in distress. But upon seeing the lofty human barricade, he ran away immediately to find help and call the police. He was too weak to fight. He would be dead even before trying.

"W-What do you want?" Mrs. Blake tried to shield Violla from the men even after she was pushed to the ground.

"What do I want?" Laura chuckled. "Revenge!"

"I've never done you any harm. What is there to avenge?" Violla growled.

"You've never done me any harm? Hahaha!" Laura laughed hard as if Violla just cracked the funniest joke on the planet.

"I was Davon's rightful fiancee, but all he cared about was you. He even sneaked into your room right in front of me, but I could only keep it to myself. Do you know how much that hurt? None of this makes sense. I have both the money and the looks. How are you better than me? Why you but not me?

"Oh, and our wedding was canceled last minute even though it was already made public, and I became the joke of the town! I even attempted a wrist cut in front of him. But you know what? He didn't even bat an eyelid."

As she recounted her misery, her brows began to droop, and her voice got hoarser. Yet, she snapped right out of it almost immediately and allowed her vicious self to take over. She squatted and slapped her sharp knife on Violla's cheek.

"It's all because of you. Hmm?"

"That's between you and him. I have nothing to do with it." Violla defended herself while carefully moving her face away from the blade.

"You have nothing to do with it?" Laura squeezed Violla's cheeks and fiddled with the knife just an inch away from her face. "Are you sure?"

"What are you doing? Let go of her…"The moment Mrs. Blake wanted to hurl herself toward Violla, one of the bodyguards kicked her onto the ground.

"Argh" She let out a wail, and blood came spewing out of her mouth.

"Mrs. Blake!" Violla brayed in rage. "It's me you're after. Leave her alone!"

"Very well, then." Laura's eyes roved around Violla's gown. "Wow, You were ready for the photoshoot. Too bad Davon's done with you."