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
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
The rain beat down the roof of the Harris’s mansion in its fury this night, as it had done for the past three nights, as though it intended to pull off the roof of the house. The occupants of the grand living room paid the weather elements no mind though as they faced each other, one angry and unmoving with an impassive face, and the other tearful and pleading, but still trying to maintain an air of nonchalance, even though she knew that she was failing dismally. The dull weather mirrored exactly how Becca Harris was feeling. She was feeling dull, sad and most of all, the feeling of despair and pain refused to leave her. Pain that a man whom she loved with all her heart, had planned to spend the rest of her life with, and would gladly die for, was standing right in front of her and staring at her in utter disdain. But even worse than the look on his face were the words that he had uttered not more than a minute or two ago. “I want a divorce.” The worst thing about this whole thing ha
“I’m not signing anything. You must be drunk or out of your mind to think that I’ll sign those without an explanation. Whatever happened to you? You’re acting so strangely.” Becca ground out through clenched teeth, anger finally overcoming the pain that had been ravaging her and pushing it to the background. It was a welcome emotion, for Becca was sure that if she continued to feel the pain, she will faint from the force of it.“Oh, but you would sign them, Becca. You’re going to sign them whether you like it or not, or I’m going to make your life really miserable. You know I can do that.”Becca did not doubt that he could do that, but at that moment, she did not give a damn. “Do whatever the fuck you want, but the fact remains that I’m not going to give you the satisfaction of signing those papers since you can’t be bothered to act civil in such a matter as delicate as this.” She finished and flounced out of the room, heading straight for the room that she shared with him. She got a
At this announcement, Becca could no longer hold herself back or control her emotions. She rushed towards Ryan and grabbed both his hands in hers, staring up at him with tear-filled eyes as she pleaded with him one last time. Her head only came up to his shoulders because of how tall he was. “Ryan please, what you’re doing is not fair in the least. At least give me a clue as to why you’re doing this. We were fine when you went on your business trip less than a week ago. What has changed from then till now and why are you treating me with such condescension?” Becca asked, refusing to let him go when he would have dragged his hands away from hers and walked away. He stared down at her for some moments, and she could have sworn that she saw the tenderness that she used to see in his eyes towards her before, but it was gone in a split second, as though it had never been there in the first place. “Everything has changed. Everything, Becca. The sooner you realize that, the better for you.
Becca stared at the woman in surprise, but did not say anything. She still believed that Ryan would come around and stop this inexcusable behavior. In the meantime, he could do whatever he wanted, and when he came back to his senses, she would be right here waiting for him to come and apologize for all this rubbish that he was doing now.“That’s okay, Margie. You don’t have to worry about me. I can stay alone. It’s no big deal, actually.” She informed the woman, but this was a big, fat lie. How on earth was she going to stay alone in this huge house all by herself? Was she going to be the one to lock the gates and tend the garden and other stuff too? Supposing it was only cooking and maintaining the house, she could have done those without any stress, but she could not very well do everything in the house, and most importantly, she could not live there all alone… or maybe she could in the meantime. She had no doubt that Ryan was going to come to his senses soon and see how much of a j
The next few days were pure torture for Becca. Determined to save her marriage and ignore her husband’s appalling behavior, she sat down and tried very hard to wrack her brain to try to guess what was causing him to act this way, but drew a blank. There was nothing she could think of that would make him behave this way, but she was beginning to be hopeful. At least she had not heard anything from her brother regarding Ryan’s threat to stop sponsoring him. So Ryan was probably just trying to bully her into accepting the divorce quietly like a sheep. Well, she was not about to be bullied. As though on cue, her phone rang and she sprang for it, hoping that it was Ryan who was calling her. He had been ignoring her calls ever since he left and the only time she had heard from him was three nights ago when he had called to complain that she hadn’t signed the papers, and had threatened her some more. To her greatest disappointment, however, it wasn’t Ryan who was calling, but it was her brot
The next day was a Sunday, which was perfect for Becca’s plans because Ryan never went anywhere on Sundays, preferring to remain indoors and rest. Before all these, Becca loved Sundays best among all the days of the week because she got to spend most of the mornings cuddled in Ryan’s arms and then they lazed about all day doing, swimming or sunning or any other activity that picked their fancies. However, today was not the day to dwell on all of that. Today, she was going for a battle, and she must win it no matter the cost.She left the house around ten that morning and got to Ryan’s new house at some few minutes past eleven, using her old car, which she had had a mechanic repair. The house seemed to be even larger than the one in which they had been living before, and as Becca stared up at the imposing gates, she felt most of her earlier courage deserting her. What if Ryan refused to see her? She could not very well break down the gate and march inside the house now, could she?A ga
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
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
“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
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
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
“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
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
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
“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