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A friendly neighbor
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Related chapters
An undeserved second chance Loneliness
Ryan Harris stood at one of the windows in his large study, looking out unseeingly at the scenery before him, which was that of his gardener tending to some plants. He missed his old house, his old life, but most importantly of all, he missed his ex-wife, Becca. He missed the way her face lit up when she saw him or smiled, the way her presence seemed to light up a room, and every other thing about her. He had not seen Becca for over two months now, the last time he saw her being the day she had come here and he had forced her to sign the divorce papers against her wish. The day he had last made love to her and had been so cruel to her. She deserved it though.To think that she had been conniving with her ex-boyfriend, who used to be one of his accountants, to embezzle funds from one of his companies was unthinkable. That act had nearly caused the said branch to become bankrupt, and it was only the quick intervention of experts that he had hired to investigate when he began to suspect
An undeserved second chance Investigation
“What do you mean I’m wrong?” Ryan asked. “Becca looks young in these pictures. You’re right about that. However, you’re wrong on account of the fact that you said her last relationship when you met her was years ago.” “How so?” Ryan asked in clipped tones. “Because we dated for six good years. I can show you pictures of us when she was older. She was cheating on me with you, and I did not know anything about it until you married her. Even then, she obviously did not care about you and instead, used her position as your wife to help me steal more money. It was later she confessed to me that she went after you for that reason. We had gathered up enough money to start up our own company before all this. All I want from you now is to make sure she does not go scot-free either because she was the one who lured me into continuing with this whole thing until it got this big.” “Alright. I think that’s enough. I don’t wish to listen to any of the crap you’re spitting any longer.” Ryan sai
An undeserved second chance Starting afresh
The next few days after Becca got the news that she was very pregnant were horrible ones for her, not because of the news of the pregnancy, but because the media somehow found out that she and Ryan were now divorced. Even worse was the fact that they had found out why he divorced her. The baseless accusations that he had levied against her, all because he had listened to what that asshole, Peter had to say instead of believing her were all over the gossip channels. They were saying that she had cheated on Ryan with her ex-boyfriend and embezzled funds from one of Ryan's companies with the same man. In fact, some channels were speculating that she had aborted a pregnancy early on in her marriage because it was Peter's baby, and not Ryan's. The lies were so outrageous, but there was nothing that she could do about it, at least not yet. Maybe when the time was right, she would do something. Before Becca knew what was happening, her face and Peter's face were splattered all over the TV,
An undeserved second chance Disguise
It was more than a week later when Becca finally surfaced from hiding inside her house. By this time, the scandal had mostly died down, just as she had known it would, although now and then, there was still some reference to her. It galled her to think that they never used her name, and always had to refer to her as Mr. Harris's ex-wife, or even former Mrs. Ryan. It was really ridiculous, although when she contemplated further on the matter, she realized that it was probably better for her as she had no idea of changing her name, and it would be better if they didn't refer to her as 'Becca.' The major thing the hungry media bothered themselves about now, was the seemingly budding relationship between Ryan and Angela. The two seemed to grow closer as the days passed, but Becca refused to allow this to bother her. She had a huge chunk of money, most of which was from the sale of the house that Ryan had given her, but she had no plans of touching the money yet. Surprisingly, she had stil
An undeserved second chance A neighborly invitation
“My, my, my. Is Daniel Anthony losing his abundant charm?” Sandra Anthony quipped from where she stood under the shade that the front porch provided, shading her eyes and watching him water the garden plants. She had also been watching a few minutes ago, as he tried to converse with the new neighbor and had gotten snubbed for his efforts. It was a refreshing sight to behold, and she was laughing a little as she teased him about it, thinking that it was a little callous of her, but enjoying herself immensely, nonetheless.“Watch your tongue, woman, or you’re going to be really, really sorry. What on earth do you mean by the comment you just made?” Dan asked her, furrowing his brows in mock anger, but that only made her laugh harder.“Well, it’s not every day that one gets to see Almighty Mr. Handsome Playboy get turned down by a woman … for the second time.”“Now, you’re really asking for it. You had better behave, otherwise, if I put down this watering can, you’re going to be really so
An undeserved second chance Niceness gone wrong
The get-together that evening was a noisy affair that Becca really enjoyed. For the first time in a long time, she was really having fun. It was almost as though she already knew the people who were there because everyone was really friendly and all of a sudden, she was fiercely glad that she had come to this place. This place would be good for her. She could feel it in her bones. All the loneliness and uncertainty that she had been feeling seemed to drift away that evening.“Having a good time?” Dan, her neighbor, and the host of the get-together asked her, coming over to where she was talking with one of his friends.“Oh, yes. I am. Thanks for inviting me.” Becca replied. The friend walked away, leaving the both of them together.“Do you mind if we step out for some fresh air?” Dan asked, and at her nod, took her elbow and led her onto his balcony.“So, how are you finding Ohio?” Dan asked her, watching her intently.“Oh, it’s a cool place. I like this neighborhood.”“Hmm. That's go
An undeserved second chance An awkward dinner
“You’re looking good, Meghan.” Ryan complimented, smiling at his sister as he sat down opposite her and her husband, Craig who was one of his closest friends, in the dining room of their house. They had invited him for dinner, as they had been doing for the past four months since he and Becca divorced, but as usual, he kept giving them excuses.Of recent, his sister had started to give him the cold shoulder, and he knew that it was because she knew he was avoiding her and her husband. He hated having Meghan mad at him, so he had had no choice but to honor her invitation this evening. Angela slid into the seat beside him, tossing her hair and placing her purse on the table.“Thanks, Ryan. I can’t say the same about you, though. Hello, Angela.” Meghan replied, her expression tight. He guessed that she was not happy that he had brought Angela along. He himself was not thrilled that Angela had insisted on tagging along, but in the end, he had decided that it was probably better for him. H
An undeserved second chance Taking a break
“Be careful, big sis. You don’t want to hurt yourself or the baby.” Toby, Becca’s younger brother chastised, hurrying over to collect the traveling box that she was holding from her hands. Becca resisted the urge to roll her eyes at him, but she understood his concern very well and allowed him to take the traveling box from her, so long as doing so eased his mind. For the past two months, she had been living with her brother, after going to visit him when she fell sick. He lived in the same city in which her grandparent’s nursing home was, so she just spent some time with them all, and was now going back to her house. “It’s almost as though I should not leave, Toby. I’ll miss you so much.” Becca said, grabbing him in a bear hug, which he enthusiastically returned. Becca hid a smile. She remembered when he was just entering his teens. He would have recoiled from such a public display of affection in public. “You can stay with me all you want, big sis. If not for school, I would have g
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An undeserved second chance Promises
It felt as though large bags of cement were holding down Ryan’s eyelids, and try as he might, he could not force them open. He could hear his daughters’ voices as they talked over themselves about something that he did not have the energy to follow. Then he heard Becca’s low voice asking them to keep it down so as not to wake daddy.“But daddy won’t wake up. He never does. I want him to wake up.” Taylor said, banging on the table and chanting ‘wake up, daddy’ several times. Within seconds, Emma took up the chanting too, while Becca tried in vain to get them to quieten.“Your dad is unconscious, but we have to hope that he will wake up soon. If you don’t behave yourselves, I won’t let you come visit him again. The doctors think that he might be able to hear you. He wouldn’t like it if you both were being stubborn and disturbing him, would he?” Becca asked.“No. I just miss him so much. I’m glad that those bad men are gone.” Emma’s voice said, and then Ryan felt a small hand patting his
An undeserved second chance A broken heart
Becca watched in horror as Sam and Ryan collapsed to the ground, almost as though in slow motion. They fell gracefully, as though they were doing a dance, and then both remained unmoving. By the time all this happened, Ben had gotten to the car and opened the door to the backseat in which the children were, the remaining cash from the ten thousand that Ryan brought firmly clutched in his hand. He opened the car door, produced a knife from seemingly nowhere, and although it took great effort because of his busted shoulder, he managed to cut off the ropes binding them and told them to make a run for it. Then as the shots rang out, he somehow managed to get himself into the driver's seat and drove recklessly away from the scene. The children ran towards Becca, crying and shivering, and after hugging them all briefly, she ordered them not to move from where they were. Ryan’s head of security was combing the bushes, trying to find a sign of any other person there, after he called for help
An undeserved second chance Confusion
“He’s clean.” The man who was watching Ryan and who had searched him said at last after he was satisfied that there was nothing incriminating on him.“Where’s the other car?”“Travis is bringing it.”“Good. He'll leave with this one.” The man said. Ryan’s heart sank further. There was yet another of them, making them four, and those were the ones he knew about. Ryan wondered which of them was Sandra’s ex-husband.“I’ve fulfilled my own end of the bargain. Release my children.” Ryan said.“The man in the car will take them back to town, where they’ll easily be found.” The man who had been giving commands told him, staring at him in a way that made him extremely uncomfortable. Ryan had already dubbed him ‘commander’ in his mind.They stood there waiting for the person called Travis to bring the car that they were waiting for. Ryan was on edge the whole time, wondering if at any moment now, all hell was going to break loose. If only the children were already out of there. The Travis guy
An undeserved second chance The meeting
The night air was cold, and the streets deserted, which was not a surprise, considering how late, or early it was. Ryan hurried through the streets, his head down, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible as he hurried through the night with the bag in his hands, even though there was nobody around. He had been warned not to take his phone along with him, so he left it in his room, along with a note for Becca in her room, explaining what he had done. Even though everything in him pushed him to look back to see if he would notice his head of security following him, he resisted the urge to look back.The kidnappers might be watching him and the last thing he needed was to look suspicious. He trusted his people's ability to do the job. The other man had once been a private investigator before coming into Ryan’s employ, so Ryan was confident in their abilities to blend in with the shadows. Finally, he got to the place where he had been told to come and saw the car that had been provide
An undeserved second chance A walk in the night
Sleep was a long time coming for Ryan, as it had been since he got the news of his children’s kidnap got to him. Tonight, he was sleeping in his room as against the previous night, when he had spent the night comforting Becca. She was sleeping in the guest room again, with Sandra this time around. Ryan was trying his best to be strong for her, but he was getting to the end of his endurance. The thought of his sick daughter and her sister holed up somewhere with some bloody kidnappers was enough to make him go insane.He got up from his bed, pacing to and fro the wide length of his room, his mind in turmoil. The money was in the process of being sent, but since it was such a large sum, it would be days before the kidnappers would get it in the account details they sent. Were the children supposed to remain with the kidnappers till then? The thought of that sickened and scared him to no end. He was operating on autopilot, having not had more up to five hours of sleep in two days, but ea
An undeserved second chance New plans
“Ben has to go.” Sam thought to himself, as he sat with the children, watching them. It wasn’t as though they had anywhere to go, or that they could escape, considering that one of them was sick. If they even managed to escape, the chances were that they would die of starvation in the dense forest, that was if some animal did not get to them first, as he had told them. None of it mattered to him anyway, because they were going to die one way or the other. What mattered was that the millions that he was expecting became his before they died. He had thought and thought of the best way to dispose of them, and he had finally come up with a smart plan to dump them in a river some distance away from here. it would be ages before they would be found, if they were ever found, that is.One thing was sure, however, and that was the fact that he was not going to let them get back to their parents and let them know that he was the one who had kidnapped them. For all his tough talk while they were
An undeserved second chance Not to be trusted
Becca awoke with a start, immediately realizing that she was not in her own bed. The events of the previous day came rushing back to her in a jiffy. Ryan was not in the room any longer and her phone was ringing. That was the sound that had woken her up. She dived for it, hoping that it was the kidnappers who were calling. They were to send the account details in which they wanted the ransom to be paid today, and also let Becca and Ryan talk to the kids today. Becca had sent the names of the drugs that Emma was supposed to be using, to the kidnappers, but she didn’t know if they received them. It wasn’t the kidnappers who were calling though, but Trevor. “Becca? Where are you? I was at your house last night, and I’m here now. I’m just coming from your school and was told you hadn’t come in today.”“I’m at Ryan’s place.” There was a short silence, which was filled with disapproval from Trevor’s end.“What are you doing there?”“Emma, Alex, and Taylor were kidnapped yesterday.” Becca in
An undeserved second chance Feverish
Sleep was a long time coming for Becca and when it finally came, it was filled with nightmares. Never in her life had she been so frightened. Her daughter and other kids whom she saw as hers were out there somewhere in the hands of a maniac and she was here lying in a very large and comfortable in one of the guest rooms in Ryan’s house. Maybe she had been wrong in asking Ryan not to involve the police. Maybe by now, the police would have found them, or at least, would be close to doing so. She sure as hell did not trust Sam to take care of three children for as long as it took them to send him the money.She tossed and turned on the bed, her mind drawing up different scenarios, none of them good. Finally, she fell into an unrestful sleep and dreamt that for some reason, Sam had gotten pissed, and had sent Emma’s two feet, and all ten of Taylor’s fingers in the mail, with a note that said Alex’s head would follow suit. In the dream, as soon as she opened the bag containing the gruesome
An undeserved second chance Captives
“Damn! I can’t believe how far we’ve come. We’re going to be bloody millionaires before long.” Ben told Sam enthusiastically, as he wolfed down a large bowl of pasta that he had prepared himself. “Yeah, me too. I hope the account into which we’re sending the money is legit.” Sam said in turn. He was also eating a plate of pasta, but he was eating his food more slowly than Ben was.“You’ve asked me this several times, and I’ve told you several times that you have nothing to fear. I’ve done stuff like this numerous times before, just not with such a large amount, and I have the right connections. Or don’t you trust me? The only thing is that we’re going to give a commission to the person helping us, but we will still have a lot of cash when we’re done. That’s for sure.”“Okay. I trust you. Are you sure they’re not dead yet or going to die? Why aren’t they awake? It’s been hours. I’m starting to get worried. That Ryan guy seems like he might pose a problem. He would not give us the money
