Chapter 1

• **alarm beeps**
• Stephanie struggles to reach for her phone and snoozes the alarm almost immediately. One of the perks of having her studio in her home was that she could wake up and go to work at any time.
• It was 30 minutes later, and she knew she had to get out of bed. She went through the usual struggles of rolling to both ends of her bed, wishing that she could lay in bed all day. That wasn’t possible, especially for her.
• Stephanie was born in a wealthy 24-year-old who had a lot to prove to her family. She was determined to get no handouts from anyone because of her name, making sure to earn all accolades ascribed to her, which she did beautifully.
• She had the usual ritual of going through her emails as soon as she woke up in an attempt to plan her schedules and wake up even more. She had no idea that today would be different; what she saw removed every bit of sleep she had left in her and shook her to her roots.
• It was a mail from her fiance Steve, breaking up with her over mail. The last part of the mail read;
• “ She has a son for me; I am too responsible for abandoning my child.”
• Stephanie broke into tears immediately as she picked up her laptop and threw it on the floor. It made a loud thud and resonated across the large silent house. Rushing footsteps were heard above her on the stairs, followed by a gentle knock on the door.
• “Steph, Steph… are you in there?” Her mother called.
• There was no answer; she could not mutter any words, as the email seemed to have left her in instant shock. The door opened, and her mother quickly rushed to her side.
• “What is going on, baby? Are you okay?”
• Stephanie could not utter a word; she kept on crying and wailing as she managed to speak.
• “He’s left me, that jerk Steve; he didn’t even have the guts to tell me in person; he had to send an email. Why can no one love me? What is wrong with me, mom?”
• “Nothing is wrong with you, baby; they are the ones with the problem; you are a wonderful young woman, and you have a lot of living left for you in the future. Do not be bothered by all this; they are just going to be stories later in life”, her mother said.
• Patricia had nothing else to say but to encourage her daughter, who seemed to be going through a lot emotionally at this young age. Growing up, she also never had it easy; going through heartbreaks and one suicidal attempt; she was lucky to have met Harvey, who happened to be the doctor on call that evening. They became friends; he came plain about building a life with her, which was it. They made all they had together.
• She had prayed for a different life for her daughter, but it just didn’t seem to happen.
• Patricia understands all this, which is why it hurts her even more.
• “Stephanie, would you like something to eat? I can make you your favorite breakfast, or would you like to eat out?”
• “I would love to be alone,” was the reply.
• She had not yet accepted what had happened. Patricia took her to leave the room, and immediately Stephanie went for her phone; she scrolled straight to a private investigator's number, the same number she had gotten from Steve.
• She asked the PI to do a thorough background check on Steve’s whereabouts and find out if the story Steve presented in the email was legit.
• She wasn’t sure why she was doing this, but if for anything, she needed closure.
• She struggled to stand up from the floor went into the bathroom to prepare a bath. She lay in the tub for hours, crying and thinking about how many years of her life she had wasted dating Steve. He was indeed an asshole; she was sure of it now.
• **phone ringing**
• The loud ring from her phone woke her up to the fact that she had passed out in the bath from all that crying; it was evening already. Still surprised that no one came to wake her up, she thanked the lord that she didn’t drown in the tub.
• Stephanie got hold of her towel quickly and discovered it was the PI call. ‘That was fast,’ she thought.
• Well, what did she expect? Steve said he was the best in the game and the most expensive. She had gotten his number when she suspected that her dad, Harvey, was having an affair with one of his employees, which turned out to be a false alarm. She didn’t know saving the number would give her closure someday.
• “Hello, I missed your call,” she said as she held the phone to her ear with one shoulder and used her other hand to put on her clothes gradually.
• “Yes, I have news on the project you asked me to work on, Mr. Steve is currently in the Bahamas, and he flew there with his said fiance. They have been dating for as long as you and he were in a relationship, and she just got pregnant not so long ago”. These words broke her in bits, this was the closure she was searching for, but the truth became too significant a burden to bear.
• She went to the kitchen, where she met her mom and the maid; she looked pale. Her perfectly shaped figure was hidden behind the baggy clothes, and she looked homeless.
• “ Have you had a bath, dear?” her mom questioned.
• “Yes,” she replied reluctantly.
• The words that followed left her mother and the maid present in shock.
• “Mom, I’m leaving LA ', I am tired of all the men here, I am tired of everything, I am tired of the constant struggles that come with the continuous pressure of me trying to prove myself constantly. No one here, not one person accepts me for who I am; the name Stone either seems like a burden now or makes me a target; I need to move somewhere calm to figure my life out,” she said.
• “What are you talking about? No one is putting any pressure on you, all this pressure you are mounting on yourself, you have anything you need, you don’t need to prove yourself to anyone,” Patricia responded as she moved toward her daughter.
• Immediately the main doors opened, and Harvey Stone walked in; everyone present greeted him as he waved at the maid to come to get his briefcase. Harvey was a tall, confident-looking billionaire doctor who had done well for himself in the medical field; his discovery of the cure to one of the flu was what gave him an early rise to fame and money. The one thing he valued above all that was his family; he did all this for them.
• As he walked into the large living room, directly facing the kitchen, which was restricted from the living room by an enormous transparent curtain, his daughter's appearance gave it away that something was up.
• He called, “my pumpkin, are you okay? You don’t seem so well? What is going on? It’s unlike you to not be in your studio by this time.”
• Patricia tried to whisper to him to keep it cool with the questions but seemed unsuccessful as he was paying attention to his daughter alone.
• She then decided to take off tension from the air. “ Honey, how was work at the office today?” she said.
• “Fine, very fine,” he said, with his attention still fixated on Stephanie.
• “Are you going to tell me what is going on? Or you want it to stay with your mother alone?” Harvey asked.
• “I’m leaving LA, dad; I am tired of living in your shadow, I am tired of being the daughter of the great Harvey Stone, I want to go sought my life, I need to breath. All this pressure is killing me,” she said as tears rolled down her eyes.
• Harvey loved his daughter so much that he knew her so well, he knew there was more, and he could feel the pain in her voice.
• “What happened?” he said, shifting focus to Patricia,
• “It’s Steve, dad,” Stephanie cut in. “He has been cheating on me, and I didn’t know; he got his side chick pregnant and sent me an email this morning that he plans on getting married to her, just right before thanksgiving, dad. I’m going to be a laughing stock at thanksgiving dinner; this is like the 5th apparent relationship gone wrong. Why can’t I keep a man? What is wrong with me?.
• “Pumpkin, doesn’t be that way; where would you go to? You know I cannot live without you, baby; stay with us for a little while, Gerald’s son is coming in from France, and we can match you both up just in time for Thanksgiving; you don't have to leave because of someone that didn’t deserve you”, Harvey said.
• “Dad, mom, if you love me as much as you say you do, you will let me leave, you will let me do this, you will let me figure my life out. I need this; I can’t stand it here anymore; there is so much negative energy in this place, just let me have this”, she said as she started walking away.
• “If that’s what you have decided, then you are free to leave, but know that you are always free to come back home at any time,” Both parents said in unison.