Zara stood by the door; she knew there was nothing much she could do but she wanted to hold off for as long as she could. She paced around the door because she knew any time from then, Micah was going to show up and set his mom up in one of the rooms. She stopped the pacing when she heard Cora speak over the phone."Hello Micah, that stupid excuse you call a wife is refusing me entry into the house," she said in a pained tone. Unfortunately, the line was not on loudspeaker so she could not hear Micah's response but Cora spoke almost immediately. "Am I supposed to keep standing outside while waiting? The neighbours are staring."For a moment, Zara had thought that Micah was defending her but that thought disappeared immediately; there was no way he would try to defend her. She caused his other to come to live with them. How could he do that?"I don't know, just do something about this; either you call her or you come home and let me in, but I can't stay outside any longer," Cora said i
Cora and Micah stood there with shock visibly written all over their faces. Cora had thought that Zara would be a foolish one, the kind they could ride and make her do whatever they wanted her to do but looking at how things turned out, she was sure that they would barely be able to make her do anything at all. "You stood there and watched her slap me?" Cora said, turning to her son. She lifted her hand slowly and held her cheek. "You allowed her to slap your mother?" Cora continued. "Did you expect me to slap her?" Micah asked. She could call the police on them if they raised their hands to her and their names on the news were enough; they did not know to show up again. "You should have done something about it," Cora replied, almost crying. "What should I have done?" Micah said and walked away. Cora followed him to the room he had been putting up. "She kicked you out of the master's bedroom?" she asked, shocked as she walked into the room. Micah had all of his clothes scattered
Zara had not been expecting to get attacked by her mother-in-law so she was defenceless for a moment but it did not last long as she jumped in and held the woman by the hair as well. The woman was older so she knew that tugging on her hair could lead to hair loss but she didn't mind at all; there was no way she would sit on her hands and allow them to bully her. She married Micah and this was her house as much as it was theirs."Zara? What the hell do you think you are doing?" Micah rushed to them and held her hand, hoping that his grip on her hands would soften, but it seemed as if he was encouraging her to tighten her grip. "Let go," he said when she did not let go despite his efforts."Tell her to let go first," Zara said, her voice ragged as if she had been fighting and heavy breaths coming from both her nose and mouth."You let go; do you want to pull out all of her hair?" Micah continued. Cora was quieter than Zara expected; she had not expected the girl to pull on her hair as w
"You stand there and watch her disrespect me so much?" Cora turned to her son as soon as she was sure that Zara was nowhere close again."What do you want me to do? To be fair, you started it.""I started it?" Cora scoffed as she searched the entire house as if there was an audience who was going to judge between them. "You were right here when she referred to me as the amid? She made it seem as if I came in here to make meals for the both of you. As if you hired me because you wanted to spend your honeymoon days together."As soon as Micah heard the word honeymoon, he felt as though he had to go after Zara and just do something to her. He was so angry and he knew that he did not want to spend a single time with her so he cancelled the honeymoon plans she made him book. It cost him money for cancelling so close to the date but at least he was able to get some money back."Mom, can we please just eat? I do not have the energy to do this."Of course you don't." Cora turned to the table
"I can't believe you are bringing me out here to shop again after we shopped just about three weeks ago." Isla had dragged Elara out of the house mainly because she was supposed to have a date with Ezra even though she kept stalling. Her father had told her that she could decide not to go because the ball was in her court but he still thought she had to go.When she asked him if it would hurt the business, he told her that even if she refused to go, the business would still be in the best shape. He was only doing this because a friend asked him for help and he just wanted to help the lonely man."You have a date and I heard they have new arrivals so I thought we would check it out together.""People are staring," Elara murmured, clutching her sister's hand. "Why are they..." she trailed off as she realised the reason why."I see you are not used to this sudden fame.""And you seem so used to it, almost as if you have been preparing for this your entire life," Elara replied, catching h
Isla stood up immediately; she knew her instincts to protect kicked in instantly. "Are you okay?" she whispered by her sister's side."I am good," Elara replied with a nod. She believed that as long as she ignored Olivia-Marie and all of her cohorts, they would leave her alone. This was not high school, where one would bully just because they wanted to or because they would regard themselves as the happening girls. Elara turned to her sister and they both kept inspecting the dress; Isla did not need to be told that there was no need to get into a conversation with them. She would even think that they were not worth it one bit."Are you seriously going to ignore us?" Winter? asked. She was glad they had met with Elara there; after the incident at the restaurant and after the manager had kicked them out, they did not discuss any plans on what to do with Elara and Winter was glad they did not because it meant that they could do whatever they wanted to her."She is acting higher than us a
"You know he was not single until you appeared around him," she replied, raising her voice so that it cracked. Isla came closer with the instinct to fight if need be. Elara was not going to allow them to try to manipulate her into fighting so she took a step back."I am stepping away not because I cannot fight back but because I do not want to be on the news," Elara mentioned as she moved back.Winter frowned; she did not expect her to be that levelheaded. The expectation was that after the slap she would get so angry that she would want to fight them and if they could spin the story in such a way that it would make them look like the victims, then the better for them."I thought you were bold enough to say all you wanted to? Why are you running away now?" Winter? asked. The other girls she was with had yet to register what was going on. It was upon seeing Elara that they discovered that they had not come up with a plan and instead of doing something about it, Winter dived in first."
"You know she is lying, don't you?" Isla asked as soon as they were left alone. Isla wanted to get rid of the girls so much that she refused to say anything until they had all left."Well, that is fifty-fifty now, isn't it?""Huh?!""Olivia-Marie and Ezra used to date for real so there is a fifty percent chance that a baby is growing in there already," Elara explained."I don't care for all that bullcrap; I stand by my word and I say that she is in no way pregnant and you are still going on that date whether you like it or not," Isla said. She knew that her sister had fallen for the fake pregnancy announcement and so she was most likely going to call off the date that both parties had come together to make happen."How can I go?" Elara asked. She wanted to go and let Ezra know, then maybe he would focus on making a family with her."You already scheduled the date before you got to find out about the pregnancy and if you tell Ezra about it, he can find out if it is real before they get
Clara, Elliot, and Isla rushed to the hospital to see Elara. After Ezra had made a fuss at the hospital and demanded an emergency checkup, he called her family to inform them about what had happened. He told Elliot that he could not go into details over the phone and it would be better for them if they came over at once so they could see Elara.By the time they got there, Elara was still taking some tests, so they had to wait, and during this time, Ezra took the time to explain the situation to them."I am never ever going to allow those evil people to see the outside world till they die," Elliot announced, extremely angry. Nobody there thought that the right thing to do was to calm this man down; they were all so angry that humans would think of doing something as horrible as this to a fellow human and that they would do it so proudly.Clara kept on sobbing, and when she was asked what the issue was, she assured them that all was well and she was just happy that nothing bad had happe
"What?" The man looked genuinely concerned that he had missed an opportunity to make so much money."Micah and Cora, the woman who paid you, have come in and confessed, so you do not have to worry about trying to take a deal to save yourself." The man looked fidgety as he realised that if Cora had come in to confess, then there was really no escape for him anymore. He should not have pretended to be too tough, but he was sure that if he had taken the money, he would have been hunted down, and the money would have been returned to Ezra."I see?" the man said in a singsong voice. "But you are yet to find the woman, aren't you?" The man asked, as even Cora did not know where they had hidden Elara. She told them to do everything at their own discretion, as she did not want to be tied to something as terrible as that."What do you mean?""Cora paid us alright to kidnap her but she had no idea where she is and even worse, my partner and I have a plan that if one of us does not show up after
Ronan and Ezra got to the station and saw the man who had helped with the kidnapping of Elara. The policemen said that the man had refused to speak and that they caught him when he was out buying supplies. They asked that they be allowed to see the man, as they could maybe find a way to force him to confess. The police officers agreed because they knew that it was useless for them to disagree, as they would still find a way to have their way. Ronan and Ezra made a plan, hoping that they could both stick to it and that way get him to say something incriminating."I respect a man who works hard for his money," Ronan said as they sat down. The gruff and big man looked up. Ronan could see the realisation on his face before he cleared his throat and tried to act like he did not recognise the two men in front of him. "I am Ronan Quinn; it's nice to meet you." Ronan took out a card from his card holder and slid it across the table to him.The man looked down at the card without touching it.
"Mom?""Wait, I am thinking of what we can do to escape this; this is good for us. You've been free, and now we can leave if we can just find a way." Micah stood in a corner as he watched his mom pace around the room with her hand stroking her chin. He did not need her to speak for him to know that her mind was going in every direction possible. He bit his lower lip as he thought of how he would dissuade her and convince her to accept her fate."They don't know that we are connected to those men; maybe if the men do not confess..." she trailed off as she knew the possibility of that was very low. She was sure that the wealthy family would do all they could to coax the truth from them. "This is all your fault," Cora stopped and put her eyes on her son.Mixah shuddered at the thought of what had happened; he did not like it at all. How could she try to blame him for decisions she made without him? He was locked up in jail and did not know anything about what she was planning, so how was
Cora knew there was no escape for her now; all she could do was hold onto Elara and act as if she knew nothing. There was no way she could escape, and her entire plan seemed ruined."To what do we owe the pleasure of your coming here?" Cora asked; she was trying her best to act mature, but Ronan and Ezra already saw through the facade."We are here to pick up Elara Quinn; just tell us where she is and we won't make a scene and will be on our way without a word," Ronan said gently. He seemed more composed than Ezra, who was shaking with anger. All Ezra thought of doing was beating up the owner, but he knew that it was wrong to do so, and that would make them find Elara quickly; in fact, it might even make it worse for them."You are making a dangerous claim right now," Micah said, standing up, and you, more than anyone, should know that it is wrong to frame someone for something they have not done."Have not done? You know fully well that your mother is the one behind the kidnapping of
Micah sat in shock after hearing all that the lawyer explained to him; he stared at the man hoping that he would begin to laugh at how gullible he was and that none of that had happened. When the lawyer did not look like he was about to laugh, he hoped that he would be rudely shaken from this dream he seemed to be having and every tug in his life would be back to the time before he lost Elara."Why on earth would you allow her to do that?" Micah asked, picking at each word gently. He wanted to scream and pull out the hair of his lawyer, but he knew that was not going to make anything better; it might even make it worse if he did not take care."She is the only one who can sign off for you, and all the documents had your legal signature and stamp." Micah could understand how she got the stamp, but how could she get the signature? It made no sense except that she forged it. Why did she forge his signature? What was she trying to get by forging it to sell off all they had? Has she done th
"Mr. Micah Swanson, you are free to go," the officer said, unlocking the cell door and opening the gate. Micah stood up from the floor where he had been and walked to the gate. It made no sense because just yesterday Ezra had threatened to make sure he spent the rest of his life behind bars since Elara was still missing and Micah did not say a word about it."To go where?" Micah asked with a frown."To go home""Am I free to go home?""Do you need me to get an interpreter for you?" the officer asked angrily. He hated that Ezra and Ronan had walked in there and asked them to let Micah go without allowing them to do their jobs, but there was no way they could say no to them. It was more of an order than a request, and since both families were involved, the officer would rather keep his job than go head-to-head with them."I just won't understand why you would let me go without an explanation," Micah said, still staying inside the cell. He felt some kind of chill fill his entire body; he
"Ezra Are you sure this would work?" Clara asked with tears in her eyes. It had been four days since Elara had gone missing and the media had gotten a whiff of it. No one knew how this happened because they had been careful enough but there was a link to sow who might have leaked it to the media and none of them cared who leaked the information; all they cared about at that moment was finding Elara and making sure she was alive."Ezra, Daddy has enough to pay the ransom and bring her back home," Isla added. Unfortunately, for every six hours that they spent waiting, the ransom kept on going up, and now they were up to one hundred sixty million. The kidnappers had threatened to beat her up in the next six hours, and Ezra had come up with a plan. The viability of the plan was not certain, but they wanted to do anything to make sure that Elara came back to them alive."I have the money and I would pay; I wouldn't ask you for a dime. We know that Cora and Micah are behind this, even thoug
"She is being a bit difficult. What do you want me to do?" one of the men said over the phone before aggressively pushing out a whiff of smoke from his mouth. The other man took the cigarette from his hand and blew on it before returning it to him."Make the ransom call, but make sure that they are not able to trace it to me," Cora said silently over the phone. Remember that you would be the one to take the fall for anything that happens." Cora wanted them to know she had no part in the situation, even though she was the mastermind behind it."We understand.""One hundred million and my son.""What about our payment?" the man asked. This was the most dangerous job that they had ever taken, but they took it because of the risk involved. If they can coax the money from the Quinn family, then they would get to walk away with thirty million without sweating, as they have always done in the past."I told you that after we get the ransom, then you get your payment," Cora said angrily. She d