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Aftermath
Last Updated:
2024-10-29 19:42:56
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An undeserved second chance Unheeded pleas
“Angela, what on earth do you think you’re doing? You do know that taking Taylor away with you as you did is called kidnapping, and it is a crime, don’t you?” Ryan asked, anger overcoming his fear immediately, at least for a few seconds. “Really? So tell me, what did you do? Report me to the cops? Oh, please, it’s not like I’m torturing her, or anything so drastic. She’s just fine.”“Have you fed her? Why is she crying? Look, just bring her back home right now, and I will forget that all this happened.”“Hmmm, I don’t think so. Don’t worry though, she’s in safe hands. You of all people know this better than anyone else does. We’re just taking a small vacation together and will be back before you know it.”“I doubt that that’s true,” Ryan said slowly.“Well, it is, so you can just tell the cops that this is all just a mistake and that she’s fine. See, she even stopped crying.”“Angela, look I know that you’re mad at me, but that is no reason to punish Taylor too. Okay, just tell me wh
An undeserved second chance More woes
The drive down to the police station was very tense. Ryan sat in front with the driver as they drove through the lonely streets and towards the station, while Margie sat in the back muttering prayers under her breath. Ryan had never been a religious person, but at this point, he would gladly pray for hours if it would mean that Taylor would be brought back. He had referred to her as his daughter, and he now realized that that was exactly what she was. Soon, they got to the police station, and Ryan got out of the car with the speed of lightning, heading straight into the office.The officer that was on duty when he had made his complaint was not there, but the one who was on duty now had been around then. The officer looked sleepy and glanced at Ryan a little impatiently, immediately recognizing him as the man who had come to lay a complaint earlier in the day.“We’re on your daughter’s case, sir.” The man said before Ryan got to the counter to speak.“It doesn’t seem that way to me. L
An undeserved second chance Unlikely visitors
As soon as Noah saw Ryan, he got up to greet him and came over to shake Ryan’s extended hands, pumping his fists as though he was very glad to see him. Ryan shook the man’s hand warily, wondering what the hell he was up to now. After all, they weren't exactly on friendly terms.“Damn, Ryan. You look like death warmed over. One of your maids said that you are sick. What is ailing you?”“Oh, just stress, I guess, and the fact that the very people I consider my second parents are fighting me for custody of my children. Hello, Anna. To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”“Hello, Ryan. You know that we would never do anything to hurt you and that is the gospel truth. We are simply doing what we think is best for our grandchildren, whom we still haven't met in person. I know you think that Angela girl walks on water, but something about her doesn't sit right with me. She seems too desperate if you ask me, and apparently, she's not quite right in the head either.” Anna said.“Yeah. My
An undeserved second chance The move
Becca swallowed hard against the lump in her throat as she hugged Sandra tightly and then released her. As much as she tried to stop them, tears leaked from the corner of her eyes and she wiped at them impatiently, before laughing a little at herself. “Oh well, I guess I’m just a sappy, weepy old lady. Before now, I would have blamed my haywire hormones for this, but now that I have given birth, can I still use that excuse?” She asked, gratified to see that Sandra was also a little teary.“Oh, come on. Now you’re making me cry. I didn’t realize that I was going to miss you this much. Now I’m regretting why I moved so far away and thanking my stars that at least, we're still in the same city.” Sandra replied. Dan was standing beside his car, holding Alex, and shuffling from foot to foot as he waited for them to say their goodbyes. The moving company had moved the last of Sandra's stuff over to her new apartment the previous day. Dan did not look as sad as Becca had thought that he wou
An undeserved second chance A step backward
It had been a long, long day for Sandra Anthony, but it was also a really fulfilling one, or at least, she hoped so. Even though she was tired from unboxing and arranging her stuff in the new apartment, and was nowhere near completing the task, she still kept at it. Taking a little break, she went into her son’s room. Alex was sleeping in his crib. She didn’t blame him one bit, after all, it was late at night, and he had been happily crawling about all day, checking out his new environment and tiring himself out. Looking at his cherubic face, she could feel self-doubt creeping into her mind, but tried to shake it off. She was doing what was best for her and Alex, but now, she realized that she had told herself, and even others those words countless times, so that they were starting to lose meaning, and even sounding like a poor excuse. Already, she missed Dan and Becca so much, that she wondered if there was any point to what she was doing. A knock on the door jarred her from her th
An undeserved second chance Unrepentant
Craig’s parents fussed over Tyler, who was soaking up every bit of attention, as he loved to meet new people, but hardly did so. Anna and Noah promptly forgot about Ryan, and neither did they ask about Taylor at first. After they had played with the child for a while and bestowed enough kisses to last for a lifetime on him, they finally turned to face Ryan.“He’s such a happy child and he seems to be developing really well,” Anna said, bouncing Tyler on her lap, while he busied himself with trying to stuff her hair in his mouth.“He is indeed,” Ryan replied, wondering if he dared to hope that they won’t ask about Taylor.“And his sister? I would have sworn that you sent us two baby pictures and told us that Meghan had given birth to the twins she was carrying before the horrible incident that claimed her life and Craig’s.” Noah added.“Yeah … about that, you see. Apparently, Angela only returned Tyler and went out again with Taylor. She enjoys taking Taylor out a lot. She dresses her
An undeserved second chance Relief at last
By the time it was the day for the first appearance in court, which was the fourteenth day of the new year, Ryan was a nervous wreck. Over the past fourteen days, he had lost more weight than anyone should in such a short frame of time, and despite the fact that Margie had had his best suit well-ironed, it hung loosely on his frame, emphasizing just how much weight he had lost. He stood docilely in front of a mirror, while Margie fussed and fussed with the suit, trying her best to make sure that he looked perfect. He did not have the heart to tell her that there was no amount of prodding that would make the suit fit him as well as it once had, except it was amended, and there was no time for that.It was surreal to think that Angela had all but disappeared from off the surface of the earth with Taylor and that despite the efforts of the police and the private investigators that he had hired to find her, there was simply no trace of her anywhere. To worsen matters, he had not heard fro
An undeserved second chance Old friends
A month and two weeks after she gave birth to her daughter, Becca resumed work. It was not the same without Sandra, of course, and Becca missed her friend so much that at first, she was finding it difficult to concentrate, especially since the new teacher who had been hired to take Sandra’s place turned out to be a snob, who treated Becca with condescension, but she had no choice but to adapt and ignore the woman in turn. As she had known, things were not the same between her and Sandra, despite the fact that they still lived in the same city, only in different parts. It was almost as though she was now forcing her friendship on Sandra and the latter sort of seemed to be nervous each time Becca came over, so much so that Becca had begun to think that she had to stop going over so much. It was just that Sandra had made her promise to visit every weekend, and since Becca had no other friend apart from Dan, who was almost always busy, she had taken up Sandra on that offer. Her haywire h
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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
