Rae’s POV“You’ve got to be kidding me, Rae.” Lyra’s eyes went wide with shock as she stared at me. “I wish I was but everything I’ve just said to you is the truth and nothing but the truth,” I answered. It was a lot to take it, I had to admit it myself. It had taken me a lot to open up to her but I realized that I couldn’t keep this bottled up any longer and Lyra was the closest person to me aside from my mother.“I wish I hadn’t spent the weekend over at my boyfriend’s, I would’ve witnessed a small part of your crazy life with my own eyes.” Lyra began. “Careful what you wish for, Lyra.” I sighed. “I knew Lucas was a lot to deal with in all ramifications but I never figured him out as someone who would be this….” Lyra trailed off, at a loss for words. “Intense?” I offered. “Yes, intense.” Lyra nodded. “He lied to your face for weeks and made you believe some falsified romance existed between the both of you and you had to find out all by yourself because he never would’ve told
Rae’s POVThe wedding was tomorrow and I was having jitters about the whole thing already. My mother had tried to assure me that it was pretty normal to be worried but I didn’t know if she was trying to pacify me or if she did mean it. Either way, my nerves were a wreck and Lyra wasn’t here with me because she had something to sort out on my behalf and she didn’t want to stress over it. While I appreciated the gesture, I wanted her to be here for me now that I needed her the most. I hadn’t seen Gunner for the past three days and I hadn’t seen Lucas for longer either which was good for both parties. I heard a knock on the door and I jumped out of the bed, rushing to the door, hoping that it was Lyra on the other side of the door. “Lyra, you owe me, and don’t think—“ I began as I opened the door, only to stop short as I saw who was standing on the other side of the door. “Well, I’m sorry but I’m not Lyra or whoever you were expecting to see.” Gunner smiled at me. “I thought I wa
Gunner’s POVGunner paused for a moment as he debated on what he was supposed to say. He was momentarily at a loss for words but he knew that he had to say something quickly else, he might potentially lose Rae before they even got married. “When I told you that you had nothing to worry about and there wouldn’t be any form of competition, I meant that, Rae.” “How can you say that when there’s every indication that it’s going to happen sooner rather than later?” Rae argued further and I knew that if I wanted to make her happy, I had to give her something that would pacify her. I thought about telling her the truth but I didn’t know how she was going to take it and besides, I didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize my chances and have my father leapfrog me and take Rae away from me. So I decided that it would be best if I didn’t tell her the truth or if I cherry-picked what I had to tell her. She didn’t need to know everything, she just needed to know enough that I wasn’t going to
Rae’s POV“Well, I don’t see how my marriage would be any of your business, father,” Gunner yelled. “You tried to take her away from me for months but you failed and now, this ruse is over.” “You may think you have it under control but you’ll soon realize that you don’t and when that happens, I’ll be waiting to clean up your mess as I’ve always had,” Lucas yelled back.“I wish you’d have a little more faith in me because if you do, you’ll know I have this under control and you wouldn’t be standing here trying to second-guess every choice I make because you can’t handle the fact that Rae is mine now.” “You think this has anything to do with Rae, Gunner?” “You’re going to stand there and lie to my face that you’re not making up all of these stories because you’re pissed about the fact that I’m getting married to Rae tomorrow and there’s nothing you can do to stop it?” “I’ve accepted my fate and I’ve made peace with it,” Lucas answered. “That’s all you need to know and all you need t
Rae’s POVLyra never cried. I had never seen or heard her cry, ever. Until tonight when she sobbed quietly over the phone. I held it against my ear, unsure of what to say because this was a whole new experience for me. She was usually the strong one between us and I could honestly count the number of times that I had cried on her shoulders while it had never been the other way round. If whatever had happened moved her to tears, then it was something huge and I knew that I had to take care of her for the time being before I get off what was on my chest. For starters, I was in complete control of my emotions but she wasn’t. “You need to calm down and talk to me, Lyra.” I cooed, trying to get her to stop crying. “I’m sorry, Rae. I just can’t help it, I’m a mess right now and I don't have anyone else to call.”“I’m glad you called me, Lyra,” I replied. “And I don’t want you to feel bad about that either.”“Thank you
Lucas’ POVI hated the fact that I had spoken to Gunner in such a despicable manner but I didn’t have any choice considering what we stood to lose if he couldn’t cover up his tracks properly. I had scorned Rae once and she decided to marry Gunner to spite me. What would she do if she ever found out that Gunner had lied to her about being gay right from the start?I didn’t want to think about it but I knew all too well that hell hath no fury like a scorned woman and I didn’t want me or anything related to be to be caught in the crossfire when things came crashing down. “You look like you’re about to murder someone, Lucas.” Damian chuckled, forcing me to stare at him as he interrupted my moment of reflection. “What gave you that notion in the first place, Damian?” I scowled. “There,” Damian pointed at my face. “There’s that murderous glint in your eyes that only appears when you’re in the red zone. Where have you been all night, Lucas?” “I had to straighten out a few things ahead of
Lucas’ LOVGunner was many things but I’ve never known him to panic if something major wasn’t going on and judging from the wild look on his face, whatever was going down was scary if it had him disorganized. “What’s going on, Gunner?” Damian asked before I could open my mouth. “I was talking to the choirmaster when I asked the servants to inform Rae that her presence was required downstairs and that was when I was informed that she wasn’t in her room and no one had seen her for the past 30 minutes.” “Start from the top,” I said as I sat upright. “When I left you in her room, did you see her afterward?” “No. I haven’t.” Gunner replied. “I’ve been working on getting the last details for the wedding in order.”“So the last time you saw her was before I walked into the room, yes?” “Yes, father.” Gunner nodded. “You mentioned you saw her at some point, Damian.” I began, turning my attention towards him. “I did,” Damian replied. “She was walking towards the front door. She looked sad
Lucas’ POV“What plan are you talking about, father?” Gunner asked, his whole attention on me. Damian had his eyes on me as well. We had emptied the room and it was just us left inside. “For starters, I once had a feeling that someone was going to try and mess with Rae when she becomes a part of this family and I knew I had to do something to stop it from happening but if I couldn’t, I had to set up protective measures in the event that it happened.”“You know where Rae is?” Damian asked me, unsure about his answer. “Close, you’re close. I know how we can track her and find out exactly where she is.” I answered. “How did you manage to pull that off?” Gunner asked. “There’s no tracking device implanted in her car, I’ve checked it already after seeing the CCTV footage.”“That’s because the tracking device is in her earrings, her favorite ones.” “She always wears them and she wore them tonight,” Gunner’s eyes widened in realization as I nodded. “I’ve got an IT guy coming over in the
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