Lucas nearly knocked Gunner off when he hurried over to stand in front of Tyler, eager to learn about Rae's location. If he didn’t stop Gunner, he was going to kill Tyler and everything would’ve been for nothing. “If you kill him, we won’t know where she is, Gunner.” Lucas said, trying to make him control his emotions. “Men like him only respond to one thing only and that’s violence,” Gunner said. “Let me take over this time around,” Lucas said. After half an hour of suffering, Tyler eventually gave up and yelled that he would speak. Lucas and Gunner became agitated when Tyler struggled to make his first comment after he was instructed to speak. “We’re not here to play games, Tyler.” Gunner warned. “I used to be Rae’s boyfriend some time ago,” Tyler forced out. “We broke up and I wanted her back so I visited her that evening in an attempt to get her back.” Lucas didn’t want to hear anymore words from Tyler as he slammed his fist into his face, before grabbing his colla
“Rae is missing and the first thing on your mind is to cancel the marriage while she hasn’t been found yet?” Lucas asked. “That’s not the idea I had in mind, father.” Gunner said. “I just thought it wise to inform you about my decision early enough.” Lucas could believe his ears. There was a lot happening and he had to come to terms with it. “Gunner, you need to tell me what’s going on.” Lucas said. “Even if you make us get married, I’m going to get a divorce and when that happens, I’ll be free to do what I want.” Gunner said. “I already feel responsible for her kidnap and I do not want to consign her to a life of misery.” Lucas knows that he can’t change who his son is and no matter what, it isn’t going to change his love for him. But this talk could wait until they found Rae alive and well. “We can talk about this when we find Rae, Gunner.” Lucas said. Deep down, a small part of him was pleased with the fact that he had no one to compete against him for Rae’s love and he
"You can't do shit!" Rae yelled and almost regretted it as Maya left with a smirk but as soon as she did, her men entered the room. She prayed for death but choose not to.shiw.hee weakness, it will only fuel Maya hate... her silence wasnt any better though. Rae's body was covered in bruises when she was in the cabin, which was evidence of how many beatings she had endured. She was obstinate and unwilling to admit her vulnerability, although appearing to be so strong on the outside. Hem, a security for Maya, came into the room carrying a tray of food for Rae. Rae could tell he was interested in her based on the way he was glancing at her and she had to use it to her advantage. “My wrists are hurting, Hem. Can you help me out?” Rae stretched out her hands towards him. “I can only loosen one of the knots.” Hem replied. “I won’t be comfortable that way, Hem.” Rae said in a seductive voice and Hem caved in. He eventually freed her both hands so she could eat, even if the fa
Hem brought Rae some food to eat, and during the day, he remained by her side. Rae had an idea in her head to get some crucial information out of Hem—knowledge that would help her get out of the cabin. She asked Hem if she was on a boat or a ship. Rae became aware that she was on land, but that she was deep in the densest area of the outermost woodlands around the city. Just as Rae was about to start wooing Hem further to check if anything in his body would help her escape, the door was suddenly thrown wide, and she hastily withdrew her sullied smile and put on a serious expression. The new guards entered the room just as Hem was about to leave, so he hurriedly grabbed up the plate that Rae had been eating from. When asked why it took him so long to feed Rae, Hem explained that it was because she was severely injured and could not move her hands. Rae chewed her meal slowly, which is why he stayed with her for so long. Rae was a handful, so the guards let Hem stay in the room w
Rae chose to behave wisely after realizing that her miserable situation was a mess a few days later. She ate the meal Hem had given her and, although she was remorseful, she sobbed miserably at him for having made himself vulnerable to be used. Hem offered comfort to Rae. He was infatuated with her by this point and was growing increasingly resentful of his boss, Maya. He didn't even give Rae's queries any thought because he was so enamored by her beauty and would stop at nothing to make her happy. Rae, still clinging to Hem, asked him how many guards were stationed surrounding the wood and the cabin. He replied that there were fifteen, including himself. Rae initially considered conspiring with him to help her get away, but there were two factors at play. She didn't develop affections for Hem; rather, she just didn't want him to pass away because she knew how much he was taking care of her. If they were successful in their escape and Hem takes her far away from Lucas, then that wo
Rae’s idea was pretty simple. All she had to do was to switch the wallet she had stolen from him when they were in the kitchen with the phone dangling on Hem’s waist. Just like a three-card Monte. It was the oldest con in the book. The three cards could be anything, but it is usually a queen and two low-numbered cards placed side by side face down on a table. The queen is the only card that matters and you have to find it. The dealer starts every game with the cards in his hands, face down, cradling the edges of the card with his fingers. Two in one hand, the queen on the bottom and the ten above it, and a single five of diamonds on the other hand. He then throws down the queen, face down, and throws the other cards around it. It's easy to see where the queen has landed and follow it as the dealer moves it around with the other cards. A friend of the dealer bets on where the queen lies and gets it wrong. The mark then feels pretty confident, thinks he's got it all figured out,
“I’m scared, Lucas,” Rae muttered. Her voice was barely audible but it was loud enough to get her message across to Lucas who she knew would be surprised at what she had just said. Realistically, Rae had wanted to refrain from saying anything until she was with Lucas but the knot in her stomach was becoming too painful to ignore. “You’re in one of the safest places I can think of, Rae.” Lucas began, his voice as gentle and steady as ever. “Is there something going on or are you merely being paranoid about something that doesn’t exist?” “Lucas, when have I ever given you a false alarm?” Rae frowned, feeling slightly offended that he would think of her in this manner. “I’m sorry, Rae. I didn’t mean to come off as condescending but I’m quite surprised at your displeasure.” Lucas tried to explain. “I’ve always felt you were in the right place up until this moment.” “I thought the same as well, Lucas.” Rae sighed as she massaged her temple. “But, I guess we were both wrong about eve
Three days ago. Lucas could feel himself losing his mind and he hated feeling like this but there was nothing he could do at this point other than pray for a silver lining in the sky. He had been waiting for this moment for a rather long time now and it wasn’t forthcoming. Looking for Rae was driving him crazy and he didn’t want to fill his mind with terrible thoughts about what could’ve possibly happened to her, that would mean he was losing faith and he didn’t want that to happen. He had hired a couple of private investigators and placed a huge price for whoever would be the first man to track down Rae. He didn’t mind paying top dollar for the information he sought, she was worth it and more. “Do you think we’re going about this the right way?” Lucas asked as he stared at the screen. He had been through this same process several times over and he hadn’t managed to find any clue yet which was rather frustrating. “You think we’ve been barking up the wrong tree for several
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