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The competition
Last Updated:
2024-10-29 19:42:56
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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
An undeserved second chance Perfect
Becca soon began to regret her on-the-spur-of-the-moment decision to go away for the weekend with Trevor. What on earth was she going to do with him for the whole weekend? She was going to meet his family for chrissakes. It was his sister’s wedding, after all. What if they all thought that she and he were having something serious? Well, it was too late to back out now, so on the Wednesday of the week that she was to leave with him, she invited Ryan inside her house when he dropped Emma off from school.He smiled gratefully when she asked him to come in, as he always did anytime she offered him something without him asking. Taylor got down from the car with him, and waited impatiently while Emma changed her clothes, and then they both skipped over to Dan’s house to play with his puppy, leaving the two adults alone.“How have you been, Becca?” He asked her after a while, accepting the glass of water she gave him and declining her offer of something to eat.“I’ve been fine, and you?”“I’m
An undeserved second chance Accident
At the touch of Ryan’s lips against hers, Becca felt as though her body had been charged with electricity. She had forgotten how succulent his lips were and how much of a good kisser he was, and now, she couldn’t stop kissing him. She knew that she should stop, that any of the kids could wander in at that very moment, but she could not for the life of her bring herself to stop him, not even when his hands left her face and trailed down to her neck and beyond.Ryan moaned into her mouth and changed angle, kissing her even more thoroughly, until Becca was sure that she would explode. She ran her hands over his muscled back, enjoying the hardness of his body underneath his shirt and reveling in the feeling of his warmth. They must have remained there just kissing and touching each other for ten minutes or more when the sound of excited giggles caused both of them to fly apart as though they were kids whose hands had been caught in the candy jar. She was backing the door, so she could not
An undeserved second chance Aftermath
The door was ajar when Tracy got there, so she simply pushed it open and stepped inside the room. The kids paused their conversation when she entered, and for a second, she just stood there staring at them and feeling incredibly stupid as they stared back at her. What on earth was she doing coming to confront little kids about why they were talking about her relationship? Still, she was already here, so she might as well say her piece.“Listen here, Emma. I know that you want your mom and dad to get back together, but honey, it’s not gonna happen, so you better get that into your head and let things be.” Tracy told Emma, trying to be as nice as possible.“They love each other and we’re going to be one big, happy family,” Emma replied stubbornly. The other two kids remained silent.“Oh, really? And whatever gave you that idea?”“Well … well, I see the way he looks at her. Also, I saw them kissing each other. Taylor and I did. They kissed for a long time.” Emma finished triumphantly.“A
An undeserved second chance Putting him in his place
Becca found Tracy hovering at the entrance to the hospital, looking nothing like the impeccably groomed woman that she usually was. Immediately the woman sighted Becca, she scurried over to her side and gripped her hands tightly, her pretty face streaked with tears, and spoke before Becca could. “I know that you must hate me, Becca. Hell, I hate myself too and I would gladly trade places with Emma if it were possible. I know you probably don’t believe me, but I swear that it was a mistake. I didn’t mean for this to happen.” Tracy said, sounding very sincere, but Becca was not in the mood to listen to anything until she saw her child.“Let go of me. I want to go see her. I’ve had the most anxious wait of my life trying to get here.”“Oh, sorry. Of course. I hear that she’s going to be okay.” Tracy said in a small voice, letting go of Becca’s hands as though they had suddenly caught fire.“Yeah. Ryan said so. Better hope it’s true, otherwise, you’re going to be very sorry.” Becca repl
An undeserved second chance Compromise
“To my utter shame, I cannot dispute the fact that I did indeed kiss you back, but the thing is that I got carried away by your story and I felt sorry for you. You can rest assured that it would not happen again. So please, keep your hands and lips to yourself from now henceforth.” Becca informed Ryan, sounding very convincing even to herself.“Ouch. There’s a first time for everything, I guess. I never thought the day would come when a woman would tell me that she only kissed me back because she felt sorry for me, but here we are.” Ryan said.“You must think the world of yourself,” Becca said in irritation, not doubting his words in the slightest. He was a hot man, and a very rich one at that. There was no doubt that there were droves of women who would gladly kiss him and even jump into bed with him given the slightest opportunity. She was not going to be one of them, however.“Actually, I don’t. I like to think that I’m a humble enough man. But it’s not a problem. I understand that
An undeserved second chance Startling news
Ryan and Tracy walked in tense silence to the hospital’s parking lot, where her car was parked. Although she had stopped crying earlier, she was beginning to sniffle once again, looking very small all of a sudden. Ryan felt a little sorry for her. Tracy was a good person, and she had gone out of her way to get the kids to like her, but Emma could be quite stubborn, and she had thwarted all her efforts. Still, getting wasted around the kids when she was supposed to be in charge of them was inexcusable.“I’m really sorry, Ryan. I swear I didn’t mean for this to happen. You must think that I’m a monster.” She began, holding onto his arm and staring into his face as though to convince him of her innocence.“No, I don’t. Mistakes happen, and I know you will not intentionally hurt Emma.”“Oh, thank God. I was so scared that you would think that I had done that to her on purpose. So you’re not breaking up with me?” She asked hopefully.“Why? Do you wanna break up?”“Of course not! I just thou
An undeserved second chance Bad news
The events of the day had drained Tracy out, so all that she was in the mood for as soon as she got home was a very hot bath and then bed. She ran the bath to be as hot as she could stand it and then got in to soak until the water got lukewarm. Ryan would most likely not come back until morning, but she could not blame him. As a matter of fact, she was surprised that things had gone as well as they did this night. Everyone agreed that what had happened was a mistake, and indeed, it was. Getting out of the bathtub, she wrapped herself in a clean towel and headed into the room that she shared with Ryan to see that her phone was vibrating. Somehow, she had put the phone in silent mode without realizing it. Wondering who the hell could be calling her by this time of the day, she was almost tempted to ignore the call. It was past four in the morning, after all. However, she reasoned that it might be Ryan, so she hurried to the nightstand where she had placed the phone and picked it up, on
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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
