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
Lucas’ eyes went wide as he heard Rae yell on the phone and he instantly knew that she had been caught by someone. Unlike himself, Lucas panicked and he began to scream into the phone. “If you touch a strand of her hair, you will have me to contend with, I swear on my life!” Lucas screamed. “Return her to me or I will rip off your heads, this is a promise!” Lucas held back the phone and stared at the screen only to find out that the call had ended and he had been yelling to himself for about a minute. He knew Rae was in danger and something bad was going to happen to her if he didn’t take any action right now. “Guards!” Lucas yelled as he slammed his fists on the table. “I need someone in here this instant!” The door to his study was instantly opened and a guard rushed in. “You called for me, sir.” “I need you to mobilize every guard we’ve got within the next hour, we’re heading out on an operation and time isn’t on our side. We need to leave before it’s too late.” “With
“If you want her to live, you won’t come any closer, Lucas.” Maya threatened. Lucas stopped abruptly as he recognized that glint in Maya’s eyes. She wasn’t bluffing. One wrong move and Rae would be dead faster than he could blink. He was pissed with himself for not having figured out this whole plan from the start. He needed to find a more diplomatic way of handling this situation before it spiraled out of control and he could already see it happening if he didn’t take control of this mess immediately. “You’re better than this, Maya.” Lucas began. “I know that you don’t want to do this and you shouldn’t.” “You think you know me, Lucas?” Maya let out a bitter laugh. “If you think I’m still the same Maya you once knew then you have it all wrong because you made me this way.” “Maya,” Lucas began in a calm voice. “Let Rae go and we can talk about this. Just the two of us without anyone else. If there’s anything you need, you can tell me and I’ll do it.” “There’s nothing you can
Lucas could feel the waves crashing in on him. The force of the water was enough to make him slip out of his unconsciousness. His eyelids fluttered open slightly after much of a struggle and he looked around, trying to get himself familiar with his new surroundings. He instinctively knew that he wasn’t in the water anymore. Eventually, his eyes were forced open and he realized that he had washed up on a small, local beach in an area he wasn’t familiar with. He was quite content with that, Damien might not have found him yet but he wasn’t dead and that counted for something. Lucas forced himself to sit up and he suddenly remembered Rae had been in the water with him. He turned to his left to see Rae before he rushed over to where she lay on the beach. Lucas brushed away the wet strands of hair from her face as he cradled her face. Her pulse was still there but she was still unconscious. The impact from the way she had landed on the water was greater than he had anticipated and sh
Lucas let out a yawn as he stretched his limbs, suddenly feeling better than he had for the past 24 hours. The fisherman hadn’t been wrong, the sleep had done wonders for him and it was time to sort out everything he had wanted to do earlier. That was when he noticed Rae was snuggled up against his chest, snoring softly as she slept. She looked peaceful and a lot better than she had been earlier but he wanted her to wake up at the very least, he had to go in search of the doctor. As he gently removed her body from his and sat up, Lucas realized that they weren’t alone in the room. He immediately jumped up from the bed and stood in front of Rae to protect her from any incoming attack. “If we wanted to harm you or the poor lady, we would’ve done that while you were sleeping.” The fisherman whom Lucas has pinpointed as the leader began. “Watching someone while they sleep is a weird thing to do,” Lucas answered. “You could’ve waited until we woke up if you wanted to talk to me.”
Lucas and Rae had spent the past two days in the fishing village and Rae hadn’t shown the signs of improvement the healer said she would. Lucas was growing impatient but he didn’t voice out his worries. He knew that the healer was trying her best and if things were right or if he could’ve managed to contact his people, Rae would be receiving the best medical care money could get but since it wasn’t possible, they had to make do with whatever they could get. Lucas had been in the room all day watching Rae sleep as he didn’t feel the need to leave the room. He missed her dearly and he didn’t want to spend five minutes away from her. He somewhat blamed himself for the tragedy that had befallen her. If only he had been more attentive to the jealousy growing in Maya’s heart, he would’ve seen this coming from a mile away but he hadn’t and his nonchalance had proven to be a great mistake. “You need to leave the room to get some air,” Lucas blinked twice as his train of thought was i
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