The rest of the morning had gone quite well and Lucas spent the rest of the day trying to get ready for his journey to the city tomorrow. He had been putting it off for so long that it was finally time to sort it out and go back to his life. He had been here for what? Nearly two weeks? It was more than a proper vacation for him and Rae as well. He was fortunate to get everything set up and ready for his departure tomorrow. Luckily for him, there was a truck coming to the village tomorrow to take a shipment of fish down to the city, Joe had told him that he could join the truck by the time they were set to head back to the city. Lucas had often wondered what the state of his estate would be at this point. Would they have considered him dead and moved on with their lives or are they still carrying on the search for him, determined to find him by any means necessary? There was only one way he would be able to find out and that was by heading home as soon as possible. The next m
After several hours of being stuck at the back of a truck with several boxes of fish, Lucas eventually got to the city. He couldn’t remember when he had ever been in a situation that required him to use public transportation and he hated every minute that he had spent in the truck. He had been forced to share a metal bench with several others which meant that they were sitting next to each other with no space between them. Lucas felt like he was suffocating and how he had managed to survive the entire journey had been a miracle. During the journey down to the city, all he could smell was fish and he knew that the smell was on him already after being in the truck for hours. Fortunately, the truck driver had been kind enough to show him where he could bathe and take the smell off him before he ventured into the city. Lucas swore not to ever put himself in such a situation before. He didn’t know how he would get home but if it required him to rent a whole truck for himself, he w
Lucas was struggling to make sense of the current situation. She looked and at the same time, she was pissed. He had left her here in good spirits and if anything had happened, it did when he had been away. This was the first time he had seen her show any sign of anger in the past two weeks and he was worried. “Did something happen, Rae?” Lucas asked again, his tone was calm, somewhat cajoling her to speak to him about what could’ve possibly gone wrong. Lucas waited for several minutes but Rae remained silent and motionless. The only thing she did was glare at him with sadness in her eyes. Lucas let out a sigh as he walked towards her. “You can talk to me, Rae, and I’ll fix whatever is wrong.” Lucas tried to reassure them as he stretched out his hand to hold but she instantly scurried away, creating enough distance between them much to his surprise. She was repulsed by the sight of him, he could figure that out now but he didn’t know why. To the best of his knowledge, he h
Rae’s POV I had planned everything I wanted to say to Lucas when I regained my memory. I had drafted a long speech that I had dedicated just for him to show him how inhumane and selfish he was. I wanted him to feel the pain that I felt, I wanted him to know that he shouldn’t have played me for a fool for nearly two weeks for his amusement. My first instinct had been to tell everyone about what he had done. I wanted him to suffer, I wanted him to feel the pain that I left deep in my chest that it was difficult for me to breathe properly at certain moments. I spent the whole day envisioning how to punish him and make him suffer so that I couldn’t bring myself to sleep. I knew he was going to tell me about how they were here because the villagers thought that they were a couple and it made me rethink my revenge plan. I didn’t know if he was bluffing or telling me another lie so I racked my head and tried to piece the whole puzzle together. The women in the village could hardly
Rae’s POV Lucas and I stood on the shores with the villagers, talking and exchanging goodbyes with everyone. The whole village had come out to say goodbye and I felt pleased. As soon as we heard the blast of a ship from the waters, the villagers knew it was time to leave and they scurried away quickly. They hated being seen by outsiders so I understood why they did that. I was left with Lucas standing next to me as I stared straight ahead, eagerly waiting for the ship to dock so I could put considerable distance between myself and Lucas. It had been difficult standing next to him and acting like we were so in love while we were exchanging our goodbyes with the villagers. He had tried on several occasions to touch me or hold me by my waist, but each time, I expertly maneuvered my way away from his touch. He had yet to understand that I was now repulsed by him and everything that had to do with him. There was no way in hell I was going to let him use me like he had done du
“This is one of the best news I’ve ever received in my life, father.” Gunner gushed as he quickly downed a glass of whiskey. “I can’t categorically pinpoint what it is but I know something about Rae has changed,” Gunner added. “This wasn’t the Rae I used to know about two weeks ago.” Lucas remained silent as he swirled the contents in his cup absentmindedly. He hadn’t been able to sleep properly last night, thoughts of Rae, his betrayal, and what she had wanted to speak to him and Gunner about kept him up for most of the night. His first thought was that she wanted to tell Gunner about what transpired between them but he had quickly discarded that notion. Rae was anything but gullible and he knew she wouldn’t want to do that. When she had said she wanted to marry Gunner as fast as she could, Lucas didn’t know what to make of it. He couldn’t remember the last time he had been stunned to silence but Rae had brought that upon him with what she had requested. “Have you been li
Present day“If this is your way of punishing me, Gunner. I want to tell you that—““Why would you think that way, father?” Gunner cut him short. “If there’s something you’ve yet to tell me, you can open up to me so we can have a civil conversation about this.” “How difficult is it for you to listen to me?” Lucas frowned. “I am your father and I won’t lead you astray.”“My father once told me I was now capable of making my own decisions, so do not expect me to accept everything you’ve said because you said it.” Lucas was struggling to keep the truth to himself but he didn’t want to ruin his chances with his son and force him into being a bigger rebel than he already was. “Before I give you my blessings, Gunner, you need to convince me why you want to marry her. Because if you think I’m going to accept that bullshit story you’ve just told me, you’re out of your mind and you’ve underestimated me.” “What do you want to know, Father?” Gunner asked, crossing his arms on his chest. “Ev
Lucas was beyond pissed with himself and most especially with his son. He clenched and unclenched his fists several times as he tried to maintain his composure in order not to slam his fist into Gunner’s face. Gunner knew how much he hated being lied to and yet for months, he had consistently lied to his face, and like a gullible fool, Lucas had believed every word he had said without trying to figure out if his son had been lying or not and now, that decision was going to haunt him. “You lied to my face, Gunner.” Lucas was visibly shaking with anger. “For several months, you stood in front of me and you lied over and over again. Not for once, did you consider the impact your decision would have in the future and here we are, at a crossroads.” “I’m sorry, father. I just—“ Gunner began.
Rae’s POVWe stood in silence, holding each other’s gaze as we exchanged words in silence. The tension between us was thick, you could cut through it. “Goodnight, Rae.” Lucas bent down to kiss my cheek, lingering longer than he usually did. He let go of my hand and turned to walk away. “Wait—“ I began, making him stop in his stride. There was every chance that I was going to regret this by morning but I didn’t care right now. I couldn’t get thoughts about him out of my head and I was done trying to discard my feelings. Lucas turned to face me, waiting in silence as his eyes searched my face. “Do you want to come inside?” I whispered, hoping I would be audible enough.The slight smile on his face gave me the answer I needed. “What about your nausea? Won’t anything—“ “The doctor assured me that I would be perfectly healthy.” I cut him short, pushing my door open and making my way in hoping he would follow suit. I turned around immediately I heard my door slam shut with a soft t
Rae’s POV“I don’t want you in the spotlight,” I began, I was going to sound ridiculous at this point but I didn’t care. “I don’t want other women seeing you and trying to pry you away from me. It’s bad enough that you get catcalled whenever you go out and even if you try to hide your identity, it ends up the same and to be fair, I’ve been reasonably understanding and you know I can’t do anything about it but I don’t think I can show that same level of restraint if they ever try to take it a step further after everything that has happened, I might just kill the first woman that tries to flirt with you and hide her body somewhere no one would ever find it.”Lucas wore a huge smile on his face and I groaned, covering my face with my hands. I hadn’t realized just how much I had been talking.“You’re adorable when you sound this way.” He began and I mentally slapped myself. “You don’t have to patronize me, Lucas. I sound like a jealous housewife who is trying to get her husband to never
Rae’s POVI felt my body tremble as Lucas spoke, the calmness and ferocity in his voice serenading me. My fears were beginning to dissipate into thin air as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder and pulled me close, knowing I had Lucas by my side gave me all the assurance I could ever need.I smiled at the first memory I had of us together. It was a week after I arrived, I had grown weary of being in bed all the time so I decided to take a stroll to clear my head. It was a bit confusing figuring out what stairs to take but I eventually made my way downstairs and went into the woods, seeking solace and the quiet it would bring. As I made my way through the woods, taking in the beauty of nature and listening to the chirping of the singing birds, a powerful scent filled my nostrils as I approached a clearing. There was a man so engrossed with the book in his hands that he didn’t notice me invading his privacy. He was the same man that brought me here and I hadn’t seen him since the fi
Rae’s POVMy eyes widened in shock as my jaw hung open for a few seconds before I snapped it shut.Will you go out on a date with me? I couldn’t believe Lucas had said that. He had been everything but romantic towards me during these past few days since Gunner left, we had a cordial relationship without any sign of sexual intimacy between us until tonight when he had made love to me out of the blues. “Rae, you have to say something.” Lucas’ voice interrupted my train of thought and forced me back to reality. “I’ll understand if you think this shouldn’t happen or if you think it’s forced but I just wanted to get it off my mind.” “No, it’s not that, Lucas.” I tried to explain. “You caught me off guard.”He merely nodded, waiting for me to speak further. I watched him out of the corner of my eyes as his gaze was now fixed on the moonlight casting a soft illuminating glow over us. He was giving me time to think about my decision while waiting patiently for the outcome. I cradled my
Lucas’ POV“Rae has been sulking all day. She has locked herself in the room and has refused to eat anything since morning, she won’t even see her maids. You have to go talk to her."I stared at Damon, a bit surprised at what he just said. “Are you trying to pull my legs?”“I’m not. You’ve been locked up in your world that you’ve forgotten there’s someone who loves you and you’ve spent the whole week regretting why you finally have the woman you claim to love.” Damian couldn’t help but laugh.“You think this is funny, don’t you?” I glared at him.“In my defense, If I were in your shoes, you’d be laughing at me in a much more annoying manner.” “You win.”“It was never in doubt, Lucas.” I let out a groan as I ran my hands through my hair. I had prayed for a second chance and when I had finally been given, I was already doing everything the wrong way. “Do you think she’s going to forgive me?”“I don’t know, Lucas. You’ll have to ask her and see what she says.” That was four hours ag
Lucas’ POV“You’ve barely said a word since Gunner left this morning,” Damian began, his keen eyes watching me. “What would you have me say, Damian?” I shrugged as I briefly glanced at him before returning my gaze to the painting hanging directly in front of me. I had made my peace with the fact that Gunner had decided to carve his path in the world and realistically, I was happy for him. It was what I had always wanted for him and he was making that big step. “If I didn’t know any better, I would say you feel slightly guilty concerning the circumstances surrounding his leaving,” “You sure know how to suck the fun out of the room, don’t you?” I glared at Damian. “There wasn’t any fun to start with and I’m here for you to talk about this before it starts to eat you up.” “I’m not in the mood to discuss, Damian.” I tried to shut him down. “We can do this some other time.” “Maybe,” Damian began. “But the next time I bring it up, you’re going to give me this same excuse again.” “I
Rae’s POV“It’s time to wake up, sleepyhead.” I groaned as I popped one eye open to see Lucas hovering above me. It was a welcoming sight because the last time I had woken up to this, it was in the fishing village.Usually, it was often accompanied by him making love to me for the rest of the morning but I didn’t think that was going to happen now given how tense things still were between us. “How many hours did I sleep?” I yawned as I stretched out on the bed. I still felt tired, and understandably so.“It’s past 3:00 PM,” Lucas replied. “My goodness,” My eyes widened in surprise. “Why did you let me sleep that long?”“You looked like you could use it,” Lucas shrugged. “Kim called an hour ago. She was just waking up as well.”I nodded. “It was one of those nights.” Lucas handed me a cup of tea which I gratefully accepted with both hands welcoming the relief a couple of sips brought with it. “Are you ready to talk about it now?” Lucas asked gently, sitting on the edge of the bed.
Lucas’ POVThe past couple of days have been nothing short of exhilarating for me in many ways. I couldn’t have woken up at a more perfect time. My life’s work had been on the line and I managed to gain control and effect several changes to the board like I had always wanted to. I also learned of the fact that Lyra and Laila had been placed in a maximum psychiatric hospital for the rest of their lives as well.Everything else was in order, Gunner had once again managed to do exceptionally well aided by Damian, who had always remained by my side even through the worst times. After the internal struggle with the opposition section on my board, Gunner informed me of his decision to go abroad. “Are you sure about this, Gunner?” I asked him. There was a huge difference between taking a long vacation and deciding to relocate to another part of the world for good. I wanted to know if he was making this decision with his right mind and not because he wanted to abscond from whatever it wa
Rae’s POVI was flickering through the pages of the novel in my hand absentmindedly. I had no interest in reading but I wanted to keep my mind busy. I couldn’t remember the last time I left this room and frankly, I didn’t want to either. No one knew how long Lucas would be in this coma and while it was terrifying, everyone was struggling to maintain a positive attitude about the current situation. I hadn’t seen Gunner in a few days and I understood why. Our relationship would need a lot of time to fix and he didn’t mind giving me space and for that, I was grateful to him. I hadn’t seen Damian in a week either. He was trying to keep the company afloat with Gunner’s help and I knew that this was a rather critical period. I didn’t know much about the business but I knew how power mongers would react to the news about Lucas’ situation which was why Gunner and Damon were doing everything they could to keep the truth about his situation under wraps. But there was only so much they could