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Reprimand
Last Updated:
2024-10-29 19:42:56
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An undeserved second chance The moment of truth
Emma stared at her mother expectantly and for a minute, Becca almost lost her willpower, but she bravely soldiered on.“You want a dad so badly, right?” She asked Emma.“Well … yes… Everyone in my class has a dad.” Emma replied unsurely, no doubt wondering where her mom was going with this.“Okay. So, I don’t want you to freak out, okay?”“Wait! I know what you’re going to say, mom. I know!” Emma exclaimed all of a sudden, bounding down from the bed and pumping her fists in the air happily. Becca stared at her warily, wondering what was going on in her mind now. Emma was only shy in the midst of her mates. Once she was with her mother or Dan’s family, her mouth ran nonstop, and it was usually difficult for one to get in a word without her overriding the person.“Really? And what on earth would that be?” “That you’re going to marry Taylor's dad, of course!” “Emma, if you will be so kind as to let me finish what I’m saying without interrupting me, I will appreciate it very much.” Becc
An undeserved second chance Visitor
The days passed rapidly, with Becca beginning to relax as regards her daughter and ex-husband. Emma adored her father, and the feeling was clearly mutual. Ryan doted on his daughter and hung on her every word, but was careful not to spoil her rotten, something that would have been easy to do considering that he had only just recently come into her life. As for Becca, she was thankful that she did not see much of Ryan, who dutifully dropped off Emma every day after school if he was around, which he almost always was. He tried his best to be friendly and communicate with her, but Becca wanted nothing to do with him. The passage of time had only made him more handsome, and that was a clear indication that she should stay the hell away from him. She knew how weak she was where Ryan was concerned, and she would be damned if she made a fool of herself over him again. Also, he was trying very hard to be nice to her and be her friend again, which either meant that he had changed, or that he
An undeserved second chance Dismay
“Hello, stranger,” Becca said to her former best friend, who was content to just stare her down for minutes after Ryan left.“Hey.”“How have you been?”“I’ve been fine, and you?” Sandra replied and asked in turn, finally averting her gaze.“I’ve been good too. I missed you.”“Yeah. Me too. I understand why you wanted to keep everything a secret though.”“So, you’re no longer mad at me?”“No.”“Okay, so why are you speaking in monosyllables and refusing to meet my eyes?” Becca asked.“I’m speaking normally.” Sandra protested, but she still didn’t meet Becca’s eyes. Becca figured that it was probably her imagination, but she thought that she saw Sandra shiver a little. Immediately, concern for her friend overwhelmed her and she led Sandra by the arm to sit on the sofa.“Sandra, what’s going on? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”“No, no, I’m fine. Maybe not.” She gave a shaky little laugh and ran her hand over her hair.“So, what is the matter?”“It’s Sam,” Sandra replied in a small v
An undeserved second chance The plotter
Sam, Sandra’s ex-husband, drowned his sorrows in alcohol as usual. It was nothing new. He was sitting in front of the tiny and worn-out television that was placed on an equally worn-out table in the rundown building in which he now lived. He was livid with rage and took solace in his bottles of alcohol, of which there were many scattered at his feet. He needed to start at his job, he knew, because if he didn’t, then he was going to be well and truly screwed. The television was on, but he stared at the images on it through blurred, unseeing eyes as he took another chug of the drink straight from the bottle, or at least, he tried to. The bottle was empty.He got up, tottered drunkenly on his feet, and took a moment to regain his balance, before weaving drunkenly to a corner of the room to pick up another bottle of drink, which happened to be the last one. Damn! He needed to restock his supply, but where was the money to do so? He scowled unseeingly at the wall for a few moments, before
An undeserved second chance Compromise
“I’m sick of you and your shenanigans.” Tracy declared in a loud, irritated voice that showed that she was spoiling for a fight. Ryan, who was in the process of removing his shirt and going to soak in the bath, paused and glanced at her, noting her sour expression.“Is anything the matter?” He asked her, not understanding what her problem was, or why she should be so angry.‘“Is anything the matter,’ he asks.” Tracy sneered, looking anything but the beautiful and gentle woman he knew.“Have I done something wrong that I don’t know about?”“What’s with you and that woman?”“What woman?” Ryan asked although he had a good idea who she was talking about.“What was the quiz you were quizzing your daughter about her for?”“Quiz? I only asked Emma how her mother is. Is there anything wrong with that?”“Look, I think we should get married immediately. I don’t want that woman to start getting any ideas.” Tracy said matter-of-factly. Ryan tried to quelch the panic that rose inside him at the so
An undeserved second chance A new addition
Becca closed her eyes, trying to get some sleep, but sleep eluded her. She felt very sorry for herself, and utterly alone and helpless, even though there was no reason why she should feel that way. It wasn’t the first time Emma was spending the night away from home, after all, she had gone to summer camp for almost three weeks sometime back, so what was a weekend without seeing her now compared to that? Still, she could not help how she felt, and she knew the main reason why.When she had been feeling lonely earlier in the evening, she had headed to Dan’s house, so that she could at least have some company, since Sandra was spending the night away with her boyfriend on the other side of town. When she got there, she discovered that Dan was not around. Instead, she had met the heavily pregnant Clarissa, sitting in front of the television in the living room. In the same living room was Alex, lying on the floor in a pool of his own vomit, groaning and crying pitifully. “What’s going on
An undeserved second chance The competition
As a matter of fact, Ryan did not get the chance to ask Becca if it was okay if he brought Tracy to the spelling bee competition to show support for Emma. On Monday afternoon, he had to travel to one of the branches of his company to sort out some issues that came up suddenly, so he was very busy it totally escaped his mind. By the time Wednesday came, he still wasn’t done with what he went to do, but he had no intentions of missing the competition. Emma called him literally every minute to remind him about it, and he knew that if he missed it, she would very pissed at him. He got on his plane and arrived back in town in record time. His driver was waiting at the airport with a car to take him straight to the venue where the competition was taking place. It was when he saw Tracy in the car, all glammed up for the event, that he remembered that he did not inform Becca about the fact that Tracy was going to be there.“Hey honey, are you not a sight for sore eyes?” Tracy crooned, immed
An undeserved second chance Invitation
“I’d like to take everyone out to lunch to celebrate Emma’s success in the competition.” Ryan offered as they all left as a group.“Thanks, but I think I’ll just go home and sleep. I feel sort of tired. The rest of you can go on without me though.” Becca declined, much to Tracy’s delight. She did not like the way Ryan had been trying to talk to Becca throughout the competition, even when it was clear that the woman was focused on her daughter. It was very evident that Ryan still felt something for this woman, so she was going to do her best to quench whatever feelings he had. Becca watched Tracy hang on to Ryan’s arm as though she was drowning and he was the only solid thing that she could find.“That’s okay, Becca. We’ll send some food home to you. You don’t have to cook anything.” Tracy offered, and Becca sent a tight-lipped smile her way, quelching the urge to rip Tracy’s fingers off Ryan’s arm. What was wrong with her for chrissakes? The woman was only trying to be friendly.“I th
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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
